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Grief still raw, questions remain unanswered as Florence mass shooting surpasses 1-year anniversary

By Kurt Knue

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    FLORENCE, Kentucky (WLWT) — Sunday marked the one-year anniversary of a mass shooting in Florence that left 4 dead and 3 injured.

It remains one of the deadliest mass shootings seen within the Greater Cincinnati area in the past decade.

The shooting took place at a home on Ridgecrest Drive in the middle of the night during a birthday party that Melissa Parrett, 44, was throwing for her son on his 21st birthday.

Parrett was one of those killed in the shooting, along with Shane Miller, 20, Hayden Rybicki, 20, and Delaney Eary, 19.

Additionally, three other people, including Melissa’s 19-year-old daughter, Chloe Parrett, were injured.

The shooter in the incident, 21-year-old Chase Garvey, was pronounced dead afterward from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Garvey is alleged to have staked out the scene for an hour inside of a bush on the property before the shooting. He then later open fired on the party’s attendees just before 3 in the morning.

According to the Gun Violence Archive, it still marks the last mass shooting (defined as four or more people being shot) within the state of Kentucky to report fatalities.

A lot remains unknown from the shooting, including Garvey’s motive. It also is unknown how Garvey obtained the gun used in the shooting. Garvey was a convicted felon and barred from owning guns after pleading guilty when he was 18 to having an unlawful transaction with a minor. This stemmed from a sexual encounter that Garvey had with a 13-year-old girl in 2021.

In the aftermath of the shooting last year, WLWT interviewed those who knew the victims, who remembered their loved ones fondly.

“She was a great mother to my kids,” said Bruce Parett, the ex-husband of Missy Parrett. “She was loved by many. She was a great person. She didn’t deserve this.”

“Delaney’s such a joy,” said Paige Robinson, a friend of Delaney Eary’s. “Like she had one of those personalities where it was like, she was never shy.”

“He’s the inspiration,” said Arianna Manners, a friend of Hayden Rybicki’s. “He was an inspiration to me, he was an inspiration to everyone here. It’s just so hard that he’s gone.”

A year later, the investigation into the incident remains ongoing by the Florence Police Department, even as few answers have so far emerged as to what could have caused a tragedy that many of those who knew the victims have described as completely senseless.

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