DETROIT – Detroit police are shutting down a bar where four people were shot, 1 fatally, earlier this week, saying an 18-year-old was among the people there hours after it should have closed and that officers have been called there 42 times since 2016.
Shooting details
Interim Detroit police Chief James White said an altercation happened at the bar around 2:30 a.m. Monday (Aug. 16).
“Four individuals got into a physical altercation with multiple individuals inside this bar,” White said. “We believe the fight resulted from an earlier argument that turned physical, and one of the owners and patrons acted in defense.”
After what White described as a “brawl,” the four individuals left the bar in a dark-colored SUV while firing shots at the building, he said.
About 90 minutes later, around 4 a.m., at least two people wearing masks and riding in a dark-colored SUV drove south through the alley and fired multiple shots into a crowd of people off the patio, according to White.
Though it’s still early in the investigation, White said police believe they have identified two suspects.
It’s possible that this was gang-related, but police are still investigating.
1 killed, 3 injured
White said one person, a 23-year-old man, was killed in the shooting.
Three other men, ages 18, 26 and 38, were injured.
“Of the wounded, two were shot in the leg and declared temporary serious,” White said. “It looks like they’re likely to recover from their injuries.”
White said the other injured man had a graze wound and was released.
Business shut down
White said Detroit police are cracking down on the bar.
“I want to emphasize: 4 a.m.,” White said. “Again, this happened at 4 a.m. The business should not have been open at 4 a.m.”
White reiterated that one of the injured men is 18 years old and shouldn’t have been at the bar in the first place.
“An 18-year-old, at 4 a.m., at a businesses, Red’s Bar, with a liquor license, which already is improper,” White said.
He criticized the bar for being open so long past the allowed hours and for allowing someone who’s underage to be there.
“As promised, we are going to do exactly what we said we’re going to do,” White said. “We’re going to require that these businesses act responsibly, that they’re responsible business owners. This is a situation where we have a business owner in our community who has not adhered to that responsibility.”
Detroit police have been called to the bar 42 times since 2016, he said.
“In this instance, we looked -- we found liquor code violations, we found that they had a number of tickets,” White said. “We’ve got buildings and safety here. We’ve got the fire and health departments here, and there’s a number of violations here, so we’re shutting down this business and we’re conducting our investigation. We are not kidding around with this. We are going to require that these businesses do their part to keep our community safe.”
Detroit police plan to reach out to the Liquor Commission, file an MCC violation with the state and pull the bar’s liquor license, White said.
You can watch White’s full update here:
