Man shot to death in restaurant

Canton Repository

ALLIANCE

Police have identified the victim and shooting suspect in a fatal shooting at The Blue Fig restaurant Wednesday.

Akira T. Kirksey, 26, an Alliance resident and employee at the restaurant, was pronounced dead at the restaurant Wednesday afternoon, according to a news release from the Alliance Police Department. He was shot several times.

The suspect, Alliance resident Peter Ortiz, 56, another worker at the restaurant, is being held in Stark County Jail, charged with aggravated murder, possessing a firearm while under disability and possessing a firearm in a liquor establishment.

Police say Ortiz left the restaurant after an argument with a coworker and returned with a gun. Although many people were at the restaurant, no one else was injured, according to the release.

Ortiz was arrested without incident.

Emergency crews were called just before 2 p.m., and police cordoned off the Blue Fig, at 2340 W. State St., for hours. A gun was found outside in the grass.

Don Lamp, of Homeworth, said he was among those seated at the bar when the shooting occurred. He heard three distinct noises from the kitchen area, but didn’t immediately recognize it as gunfire.

An employee came out the kitchen door moments later.

“She was hysterical, of course, but no screaming or nothing,” he said.

Following her was the shooting suspect.

Lamp initially thought the restaurant was being robbed. Then the woman who emerged said someone was shot in the kitchen.

“It was real then,” he said.

The bartender backed away with her hands in the air, and Lamp ran for the door with other patrons as the man grabbed a bottle of tequila. Lamp said he hid behind bushes and watched the shooting suspect smoke a cigarette outside.

Then police arrived.

People remained inside the police barricade Wednesday afternoon, and worried family members stood outside the police tape.

Fred Stauffenger arrived to check on his wife, who was at the restaurant for a retirement dinner. She had called to tell him she was all right before Stauffenger knew what had happened.

“She was distraught on the phone,” he said.