Warrant gives insight into shooting investigation

A search warrant filed in Lorain County Common Pleas Court details the Lorain Police Department’s search for the culprit behind a Jan. 4 shooting and a possible second victim.

The warrant signed Jan. 4 by Common Pleas Judge Christopher R. Rothgery sought to search various parts of a storefront in the 1400 block of Reid Avenue.

The location is believed to be the headquarters of a motorcycle club, the warrant says.

It sought to specifically find firearms, firearm accessories, surveillance recording devices, cameras, monitors and other devices used to monitor and document what was happening on the property or any records identifying those using or occupying the property.

According to the warrant, officers were called to the property at 3:26 a.m. Jan. 4 for multiple calls of shots being fired.

When they arrived, they observed multiple cars leaving the area and one refusing to stop as they attempted to pull it over, the warrant says.

Officers discovered multiple shell casings outside of the building near the east side of the building. They also located two blood trails leading, either to or from the east side access door, to the building and going in two different directions; one going east to west, the other north to south, according to the filing.

While officers investigated the scene, they received a call about a gunshot victim at Mercy Health emergency room, the warrant says.

While attempting to get information from the victim, officers received another call for a male with a gunshot wound to the chest within a block of the Reid Avenue property and contacted a key holder to allow them into the premises to search for the second victim, according to the warrant.

None was found in the building, the warrant says.

In an interview with the key holder, officers discovered the gunshot victim at Mercy was holding a birthday party at the location on the night of the shooting, the filing says.

A search of his social media posts corroborated this assertion. The key holder did not give officers permission to search the property, the warrant says.

According to the search inventory attached to the warrant, officers located and seized blood samples from the DVR room, kitchen, front room, bar room and outside of the property as well as broken glass and a bag of bloody clothes from the kitchen, a black coat and purse from the bar room, a DVR recorder from the DVR Rom and two spent Luger shell casings from the gambling room.

No one has been arrested in connection to the shooting.