On Saturday, July 6, 2024, a 21st birthday party in Florence, Kentucky ended in tragedy when a mass shooting resulted in four fatalities and left three others grievously wounded. The shooter, 21-year-old Chase Garvey, intruded on the celebration, opened fire, and later committed suicide after fleeing the scene.
Authorities report the incident took place shortly before 2:50 a.m. at a residence on Ridgecrest Drive, where Melissa Parrett, 44, was celebrating her son’s birthday. The deceased victims were identified as Parrett, Shane Miller, 20, Hayden Rybicki, 20, and Delaney Eary, 19. The three critically wounded individuals were rushed to the University of Cincinnati Medical Center and their condition is reported as stable.
Florence Police Chief Jeff Mallery recounted the alarming scene that the first responders encountered. “When officers arrived, they still heard shots being fired. They saw multiple victims and were told the suspect had fled,” Mallery stated.
Garvey, with a criminal record including first-degree rape and second-degree sodomy convictions in 2021, was familiar to some attendees but was not an invited guest at the party. His motive for the shooting is still under investigation.
Swift law enforcement response was facilitated by eyewitness descriptions of Garvey and his vehicle. Officers located his car a few blocks from the incident, which led to a pursuit. The chase ended over four miles away when Garvey crashed his vehicle into a ditch and died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Friends and family of the victims are grappling with the tragic aftermath of the event. Jackson Hemingway, the best friend of Hayden Rybicki, expressed his grief saying, “Hayden always put a smile on people’s faces and loved to go snowboarding. He was someone everyone loved to be around.”
The host of the party, Melissa Parrett, was remembered by her neighbors as a “really good woman” and a “great mother.”
The city of Florence, which has never before faced a mass shooting, is reeling from the incident. “We never dealt with this before,” Chief Mallery said. “This is the first time we had a mass shooting in Florence, so yeah, it’s very emotional. We train on this, hoping it would never happen, but unfortunately, we’ve been touched like so many departments and cities,” Mallery added, reflecting on the impact on the community and first responders.
This incident marks the third mass shooting in the Greater Cincinnati area this year, and the 20th mass killing in the United States in 2024.
With the motive behind Garvey’s actions still unknown, police are requesting anyone with information to come forward. The community of Florence is left mourning the tragic loss of four lives and rallying to support the survivors as they recover from this grievous act of violence.
