August 7: Donald Francis, 44, was shot and killed after asking Geraldine Beasley, 62, for a quarter. Beasley reportedly expressed a complaint about Francis to a nearby individual, Francis asked her for a quarter, and she proceeded to shoot him in the face. Of the incident, Police Chief Tom Streicher was quoted in the Associated Press saying, “That’s apparently all there was to it.”

According to the Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless, Francis’ death was “[an act] resulting in Cincinnati’s first documented homeless hate crime in two years.” Additionally, Georgine Getty, Executive Director of the Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless stated, “This crime is a tragedy and absolutely appalling.”

Beasley has a fifteen-year court history and is thought to experience mental illness. She was charged with murder and her trial was in February 2008.