Da’Mya Cummerlander was an 18-year-old Black woman from Columbus, Ohio, with a bright future ahead of her. A 2023 graduate of New Albany High School who finished a year early, she was exploring career paths in nursing and the military. Her mother, Monique Thompson, described her as having "so much life, and so much love." Her family remembered her as a vibrant and caring person who loved to dance and brought joy to those around her.
Tragically, her parents had just learned she was pregnant at the time of her death.
In the early hours of Sunday, June 2, 2024, Da’Mya was attending a graduation party on the 2600 block of Woodsedge Road in northeast Columbus. Just after 12:30 a.m., a gunshot was fired, and Da'Mya was hit. Responding Columbus police officers found her unresponsive at the scene. Medics pronounced her dead at 12:44 a.m.
The day after the shooting, 20-year-old Kenneth Hairston went to Columbus police headquarters with an attorney and turned himself in. He was arrested and charged with involuntary manslaughter and having weapons under disability. According to court documents, Hairston told detectives that he, Da'Mya, and four other people were together at the party. He claimed someone handed him a pistol and that when he tried to give it back, the person smacked his hand, causing the gun to fire accidentally. The bullet struck Da'Mya, and Hairston and the others reportedly left the scene before police arrived. At his arraignment, a judge set his bond at $500,000.
The case concluded with a prison sentence for Kenneth Hairston. Franklin County Common Pleas Court Judge Julie Lynch sentenced him to a term of 12 to 16½ years for his role in Da'Mya Cummerlander's death. The community’s grief was compounded the night after the shooting when two more people were shot and killed at a candlelight vigil held in Da'Mya's memory at Krumm Park.
