Gunfire at nightclub kills 1, hurts 15 others
No suspects were in custody following shooting at Cincinnati club with history of gun violence.
CINCINNATI — A gunfight broke out inside a crowded Cincinnati nightclub early Sunday after a dispute among patrons, leaving one mand ead and 15 others wounded, authorities said.
No suspects were in custody later Sunday in the shooting at the Cameo club, which has a history of gun violence, and police said there was no indication of any terrorism link.
Cincinnati Police Chief Eliot Isaac said one of the wounded was in “extremely critical condition,” while a hospital spokeswoman said two victims were listed in critical condition.
Police began receiving calls at 1:30 a.m. EDT about gunshots at the club near the Ohio River east of downtown Cincinnati. Isaac said some 200 people were inside the club, one of the few hip-hop venues in the city.
Isaac identified the dead man as 27-year-old O’Bryan Spikes, but provided no other details. He said 15 others were injured, with some already treated and released from hospitals.
“What we know at this point in the investigation is that several local men got into some type of dispute inside the bar, and it escalated into shots being fired from several individuals,” Isaac said. It wasn’t clear how many people fired shots.
Club patron Mauricio Thompson described a chaotic scene in which as many as 20 shots were fired as people scrambled to get away.
He said there was a fight and people were yelling for security to intervene before the gunfire began.
“Once I got outside, (there were) people coming out bloody, gunshot wounds on them, some of their friends carrying them to the car, rushing them to the hospital,” Thompson told WCPOTV. “Itwas just crazy.”
Isaac said that the club has its own security operation that uses detection wands and pat-downs, but that police believe several firearms got inside. Four officers were working security in the club’s parking lot and some tried unsuccessfully to revive the man who died.
Cameo’s Facebook profile says it caters to college students on Friday nights, when anyone over 18 is allowed in, while Saturdays are “grown and sexy night” for ages 21 and older.
The club has a history of gun violence, including a shooting inside the club on New Year’s Day in 2015 and one in the parking lot in September of that year, City Manager Harry Black said.
Police Capt. Kim Williams said there was “just a lot of chaos, obviously, when shots were fired.”
“Saturday night, it is a very young crowd. We have had incidents here in the past, but this is by far the worst,” she said.
Mayor John Cranley called the shooting “unacceptable” and said authorities would work to find ways to prevent such violence.
Among the injured, five were treated at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center and released, hospital spokeswoman Kelly Martin said.
She said two people were in critical condition and another two were listed in stable condition. She had no details on the types of injuries or the ages of the victims. Other injured people were taken or drove themselves to other hospitals.