The Saturday slaying of an immigrant store owner in Walnut Hills is the second fatal shooting on the same block of Lincoln Avenue in less than a month.

        Ibrahima Gumanch, of the 3800 block of Brotherton Road in Oakley, was shot dead inside MJ's Variety Store at 913 Lincoln Ave. about 7:45 p.m., Cincinnati police said.

        Mr. Gumanch, a 28-year-old Gambia native, also is the second immigrant store owner fatally shot in the city in just over a month.

        Saturday's shooting was the 27th homicide in the city since Jan. 1, a 93 percent increase over the same period last year, when there were 14 slayings by this date.

        The escalation of violence this year alarms Walnut Hills neighbors and community leaders, especially in the area of Lincoln and Gilbert avenues, which they say historically is fairly quiet.

        But MJ's Variety is three doors from the King of Clubs bar, where a fatal shooting occurred inside the nightclub April 15.

        “This is new,” said Charles Clingman, Walnut Hills Community Council president. “That intersection has not been a trouble area for the community, but evidently it's changing quite a bit.”

        Three churches, a senior citizen high-rise building and an upscale housing development, Walnut Woods, are within blocks of the intersection. But there are many storefront vacancies in the block where the shootings erupted.

        Guns and drugs apparently are moving in after increased police presence has pushed them out of sections of Walnut Hills such as Peebles Corner and McMillan Street, Mr. Clingman and merchants said.

        The block had become so unstable that Mr. Gumanch was about to move his store to Winton Road, said his girlfriend, Natasha Earles of Mount Auburn.

        He chased shoplifters out of his store more than once, she said Sunday while leaving a red carnation in the door of his closed shop.

        “He said, "Baby, you're right, it's getting bad here. These people are crazy,'” Ms. Earles recalled tearfully.

        Mr. Clingman said he plans to discuss the rising violence with business leaders, police and community council.

        “They are winning,” Mr. Clingman said of the criminals. “If they win, we all fail. It's time to be more vigilant. We need to make people who live and shop in that area feel more secure.”

        There were 1,735 calls for service in Walnut Hills during January and February — the most recent statistics available from Cincinnati Police.

        Walnut Hills had 27 robberies during those two months, placing it third highest among all city neighborhoods behind downtown and Over-the-Rhine. Saturday's shooting was Walnut Hills' third homicide this year, while in all of 2001 there were none.

        The hundreds of African and other immigrants who came to the city in recent years hoping for better lives are now frequent victims of crime, Mr. Clingman and Cincinnati police said Sunday.

        Many of those immigrants have reopened some of the vacant storefronts in Walnut Hills, Mr. Clingman noted: “They invest themselves into the area and get shot. It's pretty pathetic.”

        The problem isn't exclusive to Walnut Hills.

        In Pleasant Ridge, Jagdishch Patel, 57, an immigrant from India and owner of RNS Food Store, was shot dead April 9 after refusing to give up cash.

        Immigrants are easy targets for drug dealers after quick cash, Cincinnati Officer Matthew Latzy said. Criminals know they often are not armed.

        “They prey on them,” Officer Latzy said. “They know they have good jobs and a good work ethic and they take advantage of them. They are trying to make a living, but they live in a neighborhood that has drug dealers, the predators. It's a dangerous situation.”

        Officer Latzy said several African immigrants were robbed last year in the Huntington Meadows apartment complex in Bond Hill. Like many crime victims, the immigrants were loathe to testify against their robbers for fear of retaliation.

        “It's very hard to get them to prosecute,” Officer Latzy said. “They get mad at the police and think we're not doing everything we can, but that's not true. Sometimes we are held back by fear. It's a huge, huge problem.”

        Some immigrant merchants fight back.

        In February, Falou Diouf, a West African native who owns Mini's Deli in the West End, and his two brothers tackled and hogtied an armed robber.

        In Walnut Hills, the N&I Market on Gilbert Avenue was just robbed last week, employees said.

        “He put his gun to the head of one of my co-workers,” said Majdi Hammad, a native Palestinian who now lives in Clifton. “I had no choice but to give him all the cash in the drawer. I"m seeing some new faces around here. It's almost like gang members. Everybody works for everybody and if you mess with them, they will kill you.”

        By Sunday night, police had made no arrest in Mr. Gumanch's slaying.

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