About 150 members of Cincinnati’s Ethiopian community stood in a parking lot where two sisters and a recent university graduate – each with budding professional and academic careers – were fatally shot.
As a flame passed candle to candle, some sobbed as the gathering remembered those who died and marked their loss.
Eden Adugna, 22, Feven Adugna, 20, and Bemnet Deresse, 27, died following an Aug. 31 shooting near a home at the intersection of Beacon Street and Glade Avenue.
Before the crowd released balloons and sang hymns, some speakers recounted the day they found out the new adults had died: usual messages not received, shopping plans canceled.
Others grieved the loss of what could have been.
Eden Adugna was studying at the University of Cincinnati with dreams of becoming a doctor, a family member said. Daniel Carson, a biology lecturer with the university, told a story about how Eden brought flowers to Carson’s elderly grandmother who was visiting for the day. Having taught for 15 years, he said Eden was one of the nicest students he ever had.
“I was hoping to write a letter of recommendation for her to get into medical school or pharmacy school – wherever she wanted to go because it would have been so easy to write,” he said.
Feven and Eden Adugna worked as pharmacy technicians at the Good Samaritan Hospital in Cincinnati. They moved to the United States to support their medical careers.
The eulogies were watched by some family members who flew in from overseas. For other loved ones, such as the mother and grandmother of Bemnet Deresse, the event was too emotionally painful to attend.
Deresse, who studied biology and engineering at UC, had just started a job as a quality engineer in Louisville. Coworkers and friends spoke about Deresse’s willingness to help and his kind demeanor. Those close to him knew him as Gaki.
Cincinnati police said Samuel Ericksen, 26, shot the three. He turned the gun on himself afterward and died on Sept. 2. Police said Ericksen was romantically interested in one of the three killed and do not believe the actions were a hate crime.
A devastating loss
Hezekiel Eskinder, who goes by Zeke, said the loss has devasted Cincinnati’s already small Ethiopian community. He donated $2,000 split between the sisters’ and Deresse’s GoFundMe pages, which have together raised over $44,000.
The Ethiopian Orthodox church in College Hill the three attended will host a group funeral service on Sept. 13. After, the bodies will be moved to separate burial locations.
“The candles we hold may burn out,” said vigil organizer Mahilet Abrha, “But the love, the impact of Bemnet, Eden and Feven will never burn out.”
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Community mourns 3 killed in Mount Washington at candlelight vigil
