YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (WKBN) – Police now say a total of four people were shot early Tuesday morning in the parking lot of an E. Midlothian Boulevard nightspot.
One of those victims, a 25-year-old man, has died. A 26-year-old man is in critical condition while two other men, who are 18 and 19, are in stable condition.
A news release from police said the man who was killed was shot multiple times and found in the parking lot around 3:30 a.m. at Vibez Restaurant and Event Center, 914 E. Midlothian Blvd.
Lt. Mohammad Awad with the Youngstown Police Department said about 50 to 100 people were in the parking lot after the bar closed when the chaos ensued. Witnesses said there was a shoot-out at the location.
Multiple 911 calls reveal a chaotic scene outside of Vibez.
911 caller: “Can you please send the police and ambulance to Vibez Bar?”
911 operator: “Where is Vibez Bar, ma’am?”
911 caller: “Vibez on Midlothian. Someone got shot in the parking lot.”
Lt. Awad said AMR responded quickly and took one of the victims to St. Elizabeth Youngstown Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. While collecting evidence, police were notified that three other victims arrived at the hospital by private car, along with numerous people who followed them.
Lt. Awad said the hospital became rowdy, and multiple agencies were called to help control the crowd.
“There was some chaos at Mercy Health and we requested additional officers from different agencies to help us with the crowd,” Lt. Awad said.
Mercy Health released the following statement on Tuesday about the incident:
“The safety, security and well-being of our patients, their families and our associates is at the core of our values as a health care ministry.
Recently, there was an incident regarding visitors to the St. Elizabeth – Youngstown Hospital campus. There remains zero tolerance for actions that could potentially disrupt patient care and safety. Mercy Health would like to thank the local law enforcement departments from Liberty Township, Youngstown, Youngstown State University and Austintown for their assistance with this matter.“
Police are continuing their investigation and confirming witness statements.
Brandon Brown is the event coordinator for the business. He says people loitering in the parking lot after close has been an issue lately.
“I’m very concerned that we actually reached out to the chief of police. We want to have police presence in our parking lot. We never have incidents inside, hardly ever even have a fight, anything like that. I’m just worried that people can go to their cars and have access to guns,” he said.
“Instead of just going home after a good evening at the bar or at the restaurant, they decided to loiter in the parking lot and pick fights with people and take out their frustrations by shooting at each other, which is not the way we want people to handle their conflicts,” Lt. Awad said.
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This isn’t the first shooting that has happened at this location. In December, police found one man with gunshot wounds in the same bar parking lot.
Youngstown now has 12 homicides. Last year at this time, there were 15 homicides and 31 overall for the year.
A total of 48 people have been shot over the year. Last year, 139 people were shot in Youngstown. This is the fifth mass shooting of the year.