Cleveland reporter Nikki Delamotte found shot to death at 30

A reporter for Cleveland.com, the website of the Cleveland Plain Dealer, was found shot to death Monday in what the paper said was an apparent homicide. Nikki Delamotte spent two years at the paper where she served as an arts and culture reporter. She was 30 years old.

The suspected murderer took place Perrysburg Township, near Toledo Ohio, while Delamotte was visiting her uncle, who was found dead with her.

“Our newsroom is deeply shocked and grief-stricken at our colleague’s untimely passing,” the said the paper’s editorial board in a statement to their website Monday. “Most of us cannot believe anyone that exceptional, that nice, that thoughtful, with gifts beyond her years, can be gone so soon.”

The paper reported that police in Perrysburg Township were currently investigating a homicide, but offered no additional details. Reps to Township police did not immediately respond to request for comment from TheWrap.

“What I appreciated most were the unique perspectives she brought to brainstorm sessions — her ability to make me see things I would not have considered otherwise,” added paper editor Chris Quinn. “She had strong positions and backed down from no one, but she did so with gentleness and, always, respect. She was such a bright light, and Cleveland has a dimmer future for her loss.”

As CNN’s Brian Stelter pointed out in his Monday evening “Reliable Sources” newsletter, the issue of gun violence had seemingly been on Delamotte’s mind around the time of her own death. On November 10, she retweeted NYU professor Jay Rosen promoting a Twitter thread by Guardian reporter Lois Beckett,

Related: Activists display 7,000 shoes in 'memorial' to gun violence

“In years of talking to gun violence prevention advocates and researchers, what I’ve heard over and over is that the biggest enemy of this work isn’t the NRA. It’s the cynicism and hopelessness of the general public–their belief that nothing can be done, why even bother,” said Beckett.

“But as media outlets, we could choose to focus on the solutions. We could include, in every segment or every story, resources for people who are worried and want to know what options they might have.