Two dead in biker dispute
By Joe Gorman
WARREN
Two people are dead and three others wounded after two motorcycle clubs clashed early Saturday afternoon in the parking lot of a Highland Avenue Southwest bar in Warren Township.
Township police Chief Don Bishop said gunfire erupted about 12:35 p.m. after members of the Brothers Regime and FTW clubs, both based in Warren, argued at Shorty’s Place, 2855 Highland Ave. SW.
“They wanted respect or something, and the next thing you know, there were shots fired,” Bishop said.
Names of the dead and injured were not released Saturday. Of the three wounded, one was flown to MetroHealth Medical Center in Cleveland for treatment; Bishop did not know the condition of the other two, but both were taken to local hospitals.
Bishop said one of the groups – he was not sure which – was at the bar to plan a poker run for today in honor of Father’s Day when members of the other club showed up. Lots of shots were fired, but Bishop was unsure how many. Several rounds struck the building and cars in the parking lot. One car had its back window shot out.
All of the shooting took place outside the bar, Bishop said. Victims are members of both clubs, he said, though he didn’t know how many from each club were shot.
Officers recovered several guns and took several people to the Warren Police Department for questioning, he said. He would not say how police got the guns or whether any of them were used in the gunfire.
Although the shooting happened in his jurisdiction, a detective from Warren will be the lead investigator, Bishop said. Also helping will be the Trumbull County Homicide Task Force.
The Ohio State Highway Patrol used an airplane to help search for any motorcyclists who may have driven away from the bar, and officers also searched nearby woods on foot for any sign of anyone who could have driven away.
Shorty’s Place is not a place Warren Township officers are familiar with because usually there is no trouble there, Bishop said.
“We very rarely get a call down here,” he said. “If they call us, then you know it’s bad.”
The state Bureau of Criminal Investigation collected evidence at the scene. Bishop said three teams of BCI agents were called out because the crime scene is large. At least a dozen evidence markers designating where spent shell casings were found could be spotted in the parking lot.
Troopers from the Southington Post of the OSHP also assisted.
The two deaths Saturday give the township three homicides for 2016. James E. Dotson Jr., 33, of Perkinswood Boulevard Southeast in Warren and Syme Street in Masury, was found shot in the front parking lot of J&L Lounge, also on Highland Avenue Southwest, at 1:57 a.m. April 4.
Overall, Trumbull County has had five homicides in 2016 and is awaiting a ruling on another case.