AKRON, Ohio. — One man is dead and another man is recovering after a shooting at an Akron bar.
“To my knowledge, there’s no video surveillance footage that captured the shooting at this point, so we’re really (going to) have to rely on the statements of people that were there,” said Akron Police Lt. Michael Murphy.
Murphy said officers responded to Absolut Lounge on East South Street around 10:30 p.m. Tuesday after reports of a shooting.
When officers arrived, Murphy said they found a 36-year-old man who had been shot in the chest multiple times.
“He was laying in the parking lot. They began rendering aid, went inside the bar and found another individual who had been struck by gunfire. That was a 26-year-old male,” said Murphy.
As the 26-year-old recovers, Murphy said Akron Police need the community’s help to try and figure out what happened after investigators said a fight between two men inside the bar led to a deadly shooting.
“The 26-year-old victim that was found inside of the bar, we believe that he may have been shot during an altercation that occurred inside the bar. That altercation spilled out into the parking lot. The 36-year-old male was eventually shot. Again, these are things we are trying to determine if it happened in that sequence of events,” said Murphy.
Murphy said detectives have taken a 33-year-old man into custody in connection with the shooting.
He also said investigators are looking into whether the shooting could be considered an act of self-defense.
“We’ve received reports that this was in self-defense. We’ve received reports conflicting that statement so we’re trying to really comb through it,” said Murphy.
In the meantime, Breanna Pantzer, who runs a mental illness recovery center just down the street from Absolut Lounge, is calling for the violence to end.
“It is concerning to have that violence in the neighborhood because you just never know especially with bullets. I mean stray bullets could fly anywhere and hurt anybody,” said Pantzer, the Executive Director of Choice, A Community Social Center.
