Draft:2024 Florence shooting

On July 6, 2024, a mass shooting occurred in Florence, Kentucky during a birthday celebration being held at a private residence. Four people were killed and three others were injured. The suspect later committed suicide after a car chase.

Shooting
A birthday party for 21-year-old Brendon Parrett was being hosted at the home of 44-year-old Melissa Parrett on Ridgecrest Drive. 21-year-old Chase Garvey, who was not an attendee of the party, arrived at the home and stalked around the outside of the home for at least nearly an hour before he opened fire with a firearm, ultimately killing four and wounding three.

As the shooting unfolded, the Florence Police Department received calls of an active shooter at the home and responded to the scene and when they arrived at the scene the attack was still ongoing. Garvey managed to escape in a vehicle. Partygoers identified Garvey to responding officers and told them that he had fled and gave them a vehicle description, and those officers relayed the information to other responding officers who had yet to arrive on the scene. Other officers coming into the neighborhood spotted him as he fled the scene near Farmview Drive and Old U.S. 42, and they attempted to pull him over, resulting in a car chase.

Florence Police Department and Boone County Sheriff's Office deputies pursued him south down U.S. 42 before Garvey drove off the road and into a ditch south of Union. Officers closed in on him and discovered that he had shot himself, and he was transported to St. Elizabeth Florence Hospital where he was pronounced dead. The police later determined that Garvey had shot himself, which then caused him to crash.

Victims
Police located two victims outside of the residence and the remaining five inside. Four partygoers were killed, including the party's host Melissa Parrett. Bruce Parrett, the father of Melissa's children, credits her for running downstairs and saving the life on their 19-year-old daughter, Chloe, who was also shot in the chest, saying that "she wouldn't be alive if it wasn't for her mom". Delaney Eary, aged 19 of Burlington, Hayden Rybicki, aged 20 of Elsmere, and Shane Miller, aged 20 of Florence, were also killed. The surviving victims were transported north into Ohio to the University of Cincinnati Academic Health Center.

Accused
The Florence Police Department identified the suspect as 21-year-old Chase Garvey, a resident of Florence. Garvey was charged for rape in the 1st degree and sodomy in the 2nd degree, in relation to the assault of a 13-year-old girl whom he had met on Snapchat when he was 18-years-old in 2021. Garvey met the victim in a Fort Mitchell apartment complex parking lot and admitted to raping her in his car. Garvey was released on home incarceration and had a bond of $25,000 USD posted for him, had his charges reduced to unlawful transaction with a minor and five years of probation, and was ordered to participate in psychological counseling. Garvey was barred from owning a firearm due to being a convicted felon and it is not yet clear how he got the firearm he used in the attack in his possession.

Garvey was arrested in spring 2023 after a police officer caught him doing doughnuts in the parking lot of a Dave & Buster's in Kenton County with a 13-year-old boy in the passenger seat. He was charged for wanton endangerment and reckless driving and his probation officer requested a judge revoke his probation, who then sentenced him to 30 days in jail.

The police's preliminary investigation indicated that Garvey was not an attendee of the party and came to the party with the sole intention of committing a violent attack on the home's occupants. Police also believe that Garvey knew the people attending the party.

Aftermath and response
During a press conference after the attack Florence Police Chief Jeff Mallery said that "I know it has gone on throughout the nation, but this is the first time that we've had a mass shooting in Florence, it is very emotional".

Boone County Schools announced counseling services were being made available to students in families as some of the victims were connected to the school district in some way. The counseling services were held at Erpenbeck Elementary School.

A makeshift memorial was created outside of the Parrett home after the attack and a vigil was hosted for the victims on July 9 at Crestview Hills Town Center in Crestview Hills. Florence Mayor Dr. Julie Aubuchon spoke at the vigil saying that, "When you have that many young people, it's tragic that you have any young person die, but to have that many, I don't know how to process it to be honest". Longnecks Sports Grill in Hebron, who employ one of the surviving shooting victims, held a fundraiser for the victims of the attack. Three other restaurants in the Boone County area also planned fundraisers for the victims.

Kentucky State Senator John Schickel condemned Garvey being allowed out on probation ahead of the attack and how he had once violated his probation yet still managed to get a firearm and commit the shooting, saying that, "We are not holding people accountable for their actions".