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8 shot in gunfight at Esplen tavern
Monday, February 25, 2008
By Don Hopey, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Bob Donaldson/Post-Gazette
Wigs and costume jewelery, Pirates caps and a tennis shoe are among the items left in the parking lot outside the Riverside Bar on West Carson Street.Patrons were drinking, dancing and smoking marijuana inside the Riverside Bar till almost 3 a.m. yesterday when semi-automatic weapons fire signaled closing time and sent eight people with gunshot wounds to area hospitals, police said.
City police yesterday were still piecing together the events that led to the gunfight inside and outside the Esplen bar, which has a history of fights and underage drinking.
The first shooting took place at approximately 2:54 a.m. inside the West Carson Street bar, which was still open. Subsequent automatic weapons fire from two shooters occurred as bar patrons in the front of the building and those on the dance floor in its back room, where a disc jockey was playing music, spilled out of a side door into the parking lot.
All together, four men and four women were wounded, two of them critically.
"We got a call shortly before 3 a.m. reporting that multiple people had been shot. When police arrived, the bar was in a chaotic condition and people were in a state of panic," said Major Crimes Lt. Kevin Kraus. "There was evidence of large scale drug abuse and consumption inside the bar."
Lt. Kraus said police found, on the floor inside the bar, a 22-year-old man who had been shot in the back.
Paramedics took Joel Ingram, of Broadhead Manor, to Ohio Valley General Hospital and he then was transferred to Allegheny General Hospital. Police said he was in critical condition.
Mr. Ingram has a criminal record that includes charges for firearms violations, burglary, receiving stolen property, simple assault and, when he was 16, a cruelty to animals charge for shooting a cat with a pellet gun.
A second victim, a 21-year-old woman who was shot in the foot, was found near the West End Circle, about a half mile from the bar, where the speeding car in which she was riding wrecked. She was taken by ambulance to Allegheny General Hospital on the North Side and was listed in stable condition.
Six other gunshot victims arrived at various area hospitals in private vehicles. Police said a 35-year-old man shot in the leg was in critical condition. In stable condition or released were a 19-year-old man shot in the legs, a 27-year-old man grazed in the leg, a 20-year-old woman shot in the thigh, and two 26-year-old women, both grazed in the thigh.
Remnants of that semi-automatic gun battle were still scattered across the bar's slushy parking lot late yesterday morning. Just outside the side door of the bar were two black wigs, two Pirates baseball caps, a hair brush, two left shoes, and a trail of broken beer bottles and earrings and bracelets that ended with a dark purple puddle of blood.
Lt. Kraus said yesterday afternoon that police had made no arrests, were not releasing the names of any of the victims, and were not commenting on the motive or whether they had suspects. An initial police report said there may have been an altercation in the bar that led to the shooting.
Lt. Kraus said they are looking at the bar's history and conducting an investigation to determine if it is a nuisance bar.
An employee of the bar, who refused to give his name, said fights sometimes occur in the bar but the owners work hard to control them.
"Sometimes we hear that people shoot outside, but never inside before," he said. "That's just crazy."
Josephine Giovengo, 89, who has lived across the parking lot from the bar for 58 years, said she was sound asleep and didn't hear any shots. She said she learned of the shootings from her grandson who called in the morning to check if she was OK.
"Every once in a while I hear a story about something that's happened over there, but I have yet to hear a shot," said Mrs. Giovengo, who got a small but loud dog named Buba for protection. "I'm afraid. That's why I keep the dog. And I'm afraid something might come through the window."
City police are asking anyone who witnessed the shootings to contact the homicide office at 412-323-7161.
Monday, February 25, 2008
By Don Hopey, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Bob Donaldson/Post-Gazette
Wigs and costume jewelery, Pirates caps and a tennis shoe are among the items left in the parking lot outside the Riverside Bar on West Carson Street.Patrons were drinking, dancing and smoking marijuana inside the Riverside Bar till almost 3 a.m. yesterday when semi-automatic weapons fire signaled closing time and sent eight people with gunshot wounds to area hospitals, police said.
City police yesterday were still piecing together the events that led to the gunfight inside and outside the Esplen bar, which has a history of fights and underage drinking.
The first shooting took place at approximately 2:54 a.m. inside the West Carson Street bar, which was still open. Subsequent automatic weapons fire from two shooters occurred as bar patrons in the front of the building and those on the dance floor in its back room, where a disc jockey was playing music, spilled out of a side door into the parking lot.
All together, four men and four women were wounded, two of them critically.
"We got a call shortly before 3 a.m. reporting that multiple people had been shot. When police arrived, the bar was in a chaotic condition and people were in a state of panic," said Major Crimes Lt. Kevin Kraus. "There was evidence of large scale drug abuse and consumption inside the bar."
Lt. Kraus said police found, on the floor inside the bar, a 22-year-old man who had been shot in the back.
Paramedics took Joel Ingram, of Broadhead Manor, to Ohio Valley General Hospital and he then was transferred to Allegheny General Hospital. Police said he was in critical condition.
Mr. Ingram has a criminal record that includes charges for firearms violations, burglary, receiving stolen property, simple assault and, when he was 16, a cruelty to animals charge for shooting a cat with a pellet gun.
A second victim, a 21-year-old woman who was shot in the foot, was found near the West End Circle, about a half mile from the bar, where the speeding car in which she was riding wrecked. She was taken by ambulance to Allegheny General Hospital on the North Side and was listed in stable condition.
Six other gunshot victims arrived at various area hospitals in private vehicles. Police said a 35-year-old man shot in the leg was in critical condition. In stable condition or released were a 19-year-old man shot in the legs, a 27-year-old man grazed in the leg, a 20-year-old woman shot in the thigh, and two 26-year-old women, both grazed in the thigh.
Remnants of that semi-automatic gun battle were still scattered across the bar's slushy parking lot late yesterday morning. Just outside the side door of the bar were two black wigs, two Pirates baseball caps, a hair brush, two left shoes, and a trail of broken beer bottles and earrings and bracelets that ended with a dark purple puddle of blood.
Lt. Kraus said yesterday afternoon that police had made no arrests, were not releasing the names of any of the victims, and were not commenting on the motive or whether they had suspects. An initial police report said there may have been an altercation in the bar that led to the shooting.
Lt. Kraus said they are looking at the bar's history and conducting an investigation to determine if it is a nuisance bar.
An employee of the bar, who refused to give his name, said fights sometimes occur in the bar but the owners work hard to control them.
"Sometimes we hear that people shoot outside, but never inside before," he said. "That's just crazy."
Josephine Giovengo, 89, who has lived across the parking lot from the bar for 58 years, said she was sound asleep and didn't hear any shots. She said she learned of the shootings from her grandson who called in the morning to check if she was OK.
"Every once in a while I hear a story about something that's happened over there, but I have yet to hear a shot," said Mrs. Giovengo, who got a small but loud dog named Buba for protection. "I'm afraid. That's why I keep the dog. And I'm afraid something might come through the window."
City police are asking anyone who witnessed the shootings to contact the homicide office at 412-323-7161.
