BY TOM O'NEILL
The Cincinnati Enquirer
![[duchemin]](/editions/1998/10/05/duchemin_110x198.jpg)
Marc Duchemin stands on his front porch Sunday.
(Jeff Swinger photo)
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ANDERSON TOWNSHIP -- When a maroon car with its lights off pulled up to Marc Duchemin Saturday night and someone yelled, "You ratted me out," he paid no attention.
"I was like "whatever,' " the 17-year-old Anderson Township boy said Sunday.
Seconds after the exchange, Marc heard three to five gunshots, one of which struck him in the back of his right leg. The bullet exited near his shin, below the knee. The car sped away.
The drive-by shooting near the intersection of Eight Mile Road and Summit Ridge Drive is still under investigation by the Hamilton County Sheriff's Department. Detectives spent Sunday morning at the scene looking for evidence.
Police said they also are searching for a maroon compact vehicle, but a more detailed description was unavailable. Marc said he thought it might be a Honda.
Marc, who was treated at Children's Hospital and released, sat in his living room Sunday and tried to put words to the fear he felt.
"Not over a stereo," Marc said, his elevated leg resting on a coffee table as family and friends gathered around him. It was his only reference to a possible cause for the shooting. "It's not worth it, it's getting crazy. We moved from Madisonville (five years ago) to get away from this.
"People say that don't happen here," he said. "It's everywhere." Police released little information about a possible motive. Marc declined further comment. He said he had gotten into minor trouble in the past but he didn't know what was meant by the comment that preceded the shooting.
The shooting startled the perception that Anderson is a safe community where such shootings are virtually unheard of.
When Roger Wagner, 44, of Summit Ridge Drive heard the sound of screeching brakes while watching a boxing match on TV, he thought nothing of it. That stretch of Eight Mile, just south of Clough Pike, is known among neighborhood residents for its car crashes and near-misses, because northbound motorists come over a small hill as they approach Summit Ridge.
Twenty minutes after hearing the squealing brakes, Mr. Wagner looked out his window to see a blur of red police lights flashing. For a car accident investigation, the sight wasn't uncommon. For a drive-by shooting, the scene was shocking.
"Never, never," Mr. Wagner said. "And I've been here 10 years."
Neighbor Heather Kurth, 21, agreed. "I didn't think anything like this would ever happen in Anderson and I've lived here all my life. I couldn't believe it."
Marc, an Anderson High School dropout who turns 18 in eight days, said that the incident began when he was approached by a white Trans-Am from which somebody yelled something he didn't hear.
The car drove off. Police have released no information on the first vehicle.
Marc and a friend walked to a nearby convenience store and were walking back when they were approached again, this time by a different car, this time with its lights off.
After a brief exchange, shots were fired in rapid succession. For an instant, Marc didn't realize he had been shot.
"It burned, severely," he recalled. "I looked down. I said, "I'm shot, I'm shot.' "
He stumbled, then was virtually carried by his friend several blocks to his home.
"The violence has got to stop," he said. "It's just got to. It ain't worth it."
![[duchemin]](/editions/1998/10/05/duchemin_306x550.jpg)