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Business owners, employees shocked by recent shootings in Italian Village

After two shootings in less than 24 hours, business owners are weighing in on the gun violence happening in the Italian Village.

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Two separate shootings less than 24 hours apart and about a half mile away from each other in Columbus left one man dead and two others injured.

Police were called to the first shooting just after 4:15 a.m. on Monday in the 900 block of North 4th Street when a body was reportedly found near a dumpster.

The man, who was suffering from an apparent gunshot wound, was pronounced dead at the scene.

Business owners like Robert Wood II, owner of 4th St Dental Studio, said this type of crime doesn’t typically happen in their neighborhood in the Italian Village.

"There's a couple of break-ins and stuff I know when you're closer to downtown that happens but nothing like a body being found, especially close to my practice,” Wood said.

Surveillance video released Monday showed a fight between several people in that area just two hours earlier.

"It happened 2:30 in the morning, and I mean if you're out at 2:30 in the morning, I mean what's going on?" Micah Campbell, a barber at Royal Rhino Club Barbershop & Lounge, said.

The barbershop Campbell works at is one of the businesses bordering the parking lot where the body was found.

"These last six years I've been here it’s been pretty peaceful, so to see something like this happen right in the backyard it’s kind of nerve-wracking,” Campbell said.

Less than 24 hours later, there was another shooting on North 4th Street near Weinland Park Elementary School. Columbus police said two men were shot just before 1 a.m. Tuesday. Both men who were injured are expected to survive.

Campbell said he thinks the violence is coming from people who don’t live in the Italian Village neighborhood.

"During the day and the evenings, it's pretty safe out here,” Campbell said.

Meanwhile business owners like Wood said they believe police are doing what they can to keep the city safe.

"I think they are starting to put like a little more focus around here in the area just because of the increased gun violence but I think they're doing as best as they can with everything else going on,” Wood said.

The name of the victim in Monday’s shooting has not yet been released. Columbus police said the three persons of interest connected to that shooting have not been identified. Anyone with information is asked to contact police.

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