Andrew Rothman
Member
I keep thinking of John Farnam's advice:
And I guess, based on our experiences in Minneapolis, especially hip-hop bars. Here's the story:
- http://www.defense-training.com/quips/2003/19Mar03.htmlThe best way to handle any potentially injurious encounter is: Don't be there. Arrange to be somewhere else. Don't go to stupid places. Don't associate with stupid people. Don't do stupid things.
...
Crowds of any kind...are good examples of "stupid places." Any crowd with a high collective energy level harbors potential catastrophe. To a lesser degree, bank buildings, hospital emergency rooms, airports, government buildings, and bars (particularly crowded ones) fall into the same category. All should be avoided.
And I guess, based on our experiences in Minneapolis, especially hip-hop bars. Here's the story:
- http://www.startribune.com/stories/467/4916626.htmlShootout erupts at night club
Tim Harlow, Star Tribune
August 8, 2004
As she often does on Friday nights, Chatuyun Smith went to bust a few moves on the dance floor at Club Cristal in Maplewood. But after what happened in the Maplewood nightclub's parking lot as she left just after 2 a.m. Saturday, she has vowed never to go back.
Smith, of Golden Valley, was leaning against her car changing her boots when she was caught in a volley of gunfire. A man fell wounded near a car parked just feet away, looked up at Smith and said, "I've been shot! Can you help?"
Frightened, Smith ducked to avoid being hit. A Maplewood police officer who had been patrolling the parking lot and heard the shots responded immediately, calling in other officers for assistance, but not before one man was dead and three were injured.
Maplewood police identified the dead man as Charles Anthony Thomas, 25, whose driver's license showed a Brooklyn Park address. The address, however, might have been old.
Shooting aftermathTom SweeneyStar TribuneWitnesses said Thomas had been living in St. Paul, Lt. Kevin Rabbett said.
A 24-year-old St. Paul man was arrested Saturday, Rabbett said, and charges are expected. Thomas' slaying was Maplewood's first homicide of 2004.
Thomas and the 24-year-old man were arguing with three other men just after 1 a.m. inside Club Cristal, Rabbett said. That led to the shooting outside the popular nightclub, which is in a strip mall at the intersection of Larpenteur Av. and Rice St.
Rabbett said police are not sure what sparked the disagreement, but about 45 minutes to an hour before the club's 2 a.m. closing, bouncers had removed Thomas and the 24-year-old man from the club, where hundreds, including Smith, were enjoying a hip-hop dance party.
The pair apparently waited in the parking lot for the three men with whom they had argued. When the trio got into a GMC Yukon at the south end of the parking lot, Rabbett said, Thomas and his companion approached on foot and opened fire.
The men in the vehicle returned fire, striking Thomas several times. He crawled to the back of the strip mall, where he collapsed near railroad tracks. Police found him a short time later. He was pronounced dead at Regions Hospital in St. Paul.
The 24-year-old who was with Thomas was hit in the abdomen and taken to Regions. Two of the three men in the vehicle were injured and also taken to Regions. Their conditions were not available Saturday.
Smith said she didn't hear or see the men arguing inside the club. But as she tried to get into her car, she found herself in the middle of their confrontation. As bullets flew and the injured man fell at her feet, police swooped in. Smith said she put her hands up to show them that she was not involved. Doing so, she dropped her cell phone, which landed under her car.
Smith said police questioned her after somebody told police that a suspect was hiding in her trunk. They searched her vehicle and found no one, but they did find her cell phone and one of the small-caliber guns used in the shooting under her car.
Rabbett said the gun probably was tossed there as one of the suspects tried to crawl to a friend's car. Smith was never a suspect and police took her home.
On Saturday afternoon, Smith and her sister, Cynthia Cox of Robbinsdale, returned to the club to retrieve her car.
"I won't be coming here no more," Smith said.
Cox, who had been at Club Cristal with her sister Friday night but left around 11 p.m., said she's been to the nightclub several times but it's unlikely she'll be back.
"I've never felt unsafe, but after last night I'll be staying downtown," Cox said. (Oh, yeah, `cause that's safe! - Matt)
Rabbett said police have previously been called to Club Cristal for incidents such as fights, stabbings and assaults with glass bottles. But overall, he said, "The club does a pretty good job. They had metal detectors at the doors. (Oh, good. A guarantee of unarmed victims! - Matt)They have excellent video in there so we might be able to detect what happened in there."
He said he doesn't believe that the guns used in the shootout were ever inside the club and stressed that the incident happened outside the club.
On Saturday, investigators from the Maplewood Police Department and the state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension were interviewing witnesses and examining evidence, including the bullet-riddled Yukon, which still sat in the parking lot. Rabbett said charges against the three men who were in the truck are possible.
Tim Harlow is at [email protected]
