WITNESS, VICTIM SILENCE STALLS DO LT ON NIGHT CLUB SHOOTING INVESTIGATION
The investigation into a Dolton nightclub shooting that left five people wounded has stalled because of a lack of cooperation from witnesses and victims.
Four men were shot about 3 a. m. May 14 inside Club One, 14112 Chicago Road. A fifth man was shot outside the club.
“We don’t have enoughwitnesses or victims that are cooperating,” Police Chief Robert Collins Jr. said. “It’s a case that could be closed, but because of the lack of cooperation, we’re stalled right now.”
Collins said the man shot outside the club was still “a person of interest” in the shooting inside Club One.
“We have interviewed close to 15 people,” Collins said. “We have a good idea of who the shooter [ inside the club] was.”
Video surveillance inside Club One showed two men getting into an argument and a group forming around them as they began to fight, Collins said. One of thosemen pulled out a handgun and began shooting. Earlier reports that the man got the gun from a woman’s purse were incorrect.
When the shooter left the club, he was shot, police said.
The person who shot the man outside the nightclub got into a rental car with someone else, and they drove away, Collins said. Police have found that vehicle and identified the driver but have not yet identified the person who pulled the trigger.
Collins said the club’s video surveillance allowed investigators to identify people by the markings and logos on their clothes, but Cook County prosectors have asked for more before approving charges.
“And that’s understandable,” Collins said. “We all want the end result to be justice.”
Several people who witnessed the shooting have yet to talk to detectives, either because they have missed their appointments or have not returned investigators’ calls.
At a news conference after the shooting, Dolton Mayor Riley Rogers said police could close the club for seven days but resisted calls to close the club for good, citing a risk of litigation against the village.
Collins said the club has been allowed to reopen. A police sticker remained on the door Saturday announcing the club was closed by police order, and no one appeared to be inside.
Four men who say they were shot inside the club have filed two separate lawsuits against Club One Entertainment LLC and Mucho Gusto LLC, which owns the building and holds the club’s liquor license. The most recent lawsuit was filed Wednesday in Cook County circuit court. The men claim Club One and Mucho Gusto were negligent when they failed to properly search people attending an event at the club and allowed a weapon inside.
Collins said that after interviewing security staff, investigators were still unsure how the gun got into the club.
Dolton, a community of nearly 24,000 people, has the same issues of crime and resources to fight crime as other towns around it, including the city of Chicago, Collins said.
“Dolton really isn’t a violent community,” he said. “In the last few years it has gotten a bad rap, and it’s hard to get out from under that.”