A Cincinnati man who claimed he opened fire in self-defense during a late-night clash in Over-the-Rhine now faces at least 21 years to life in prison for the killing of Paris Blye.
A Hamilton County jury’s verdict caught up with 38-year-old Shawn Byrd on Wednesday, when a judge imposed the long sentence after jurors rejected his self-defense claim in the fatal shooting, according to WKRC. According to the site, the panel determined that his account of events did not match Ohio’s legal requirement for use of deadly force.
The incident that took Blye’s life occurred around midnight on August 20, 2024, on East Clifton Avenue in Over-the-Rhine, when authorities came to find him with gunshot wounds, FOX19 reported. Blye was taken to the University of Cincinnati Medical Center and died later that night.
According to WKRC, Byrd testified that he pulled the trigger because he assumed Blye had a weapon. Investigators and, eventually, the jury found that Blye was not carrying a weapon when he was shot. The conflict between Byrd’s statement and the physical evidence became the focus of the trial, influencing the sentence given on Wednesday.
The fatality was one of three shootings reported in Over-the-Rhine that same night in 2024, a convergence that alarmed neighbors and heightened concerns about street crime in the densely populated urban district, according to WLWT’s first story. At that point in the investigation, detectives had not officially determined a motive.
In the days following the shooting, investigators requested anyone with information to contact the Cincinnati investigators Homicide Unit at 513-352-3542, according to FOX19. With Byrd’s conviction and imprisonment now in the books, the case draws closer to legal resolution for a community that has been dealing with the fallout for months.
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