Judge shutters East Cleveland bar after homicide, dozens of disturbances

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- A Cuyahoga County judge has temporarily shuttered the East Cleveland bar where a man was gunned down earlier this month, after prosecutors said the establishment is a "haven for illicit activity." East Cleveland police have received...

27 February 2017 Monday 18:04
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Judge shutters East Cleveland bar after homicide, dozens of disturbances

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- A Cuyahoga County judge has temporarily shuttered the East Cleveland bar where a man was gunned down earlier this month, after prosecutors said the establishment is a "haven for illicit activity."

East Cleveland police have received 26 calls for service since the Feb. 8 killing of 20-year-old Eric Howard at Club Dew Drop on Euclid Avenue at Ivanhoe Road, the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor's Office said in a news release. 

A preliminary injunction hearing is scheduled for March 10.

Video the shooting showed bartenders serving alcohol to eight people, including Howard and the three men police have accused of killing him. Two of the suspects were also under the legal age to buy and consume alcohol, before the shooting, prosecutors said.

Marvin C. Bryant, 19, turned himself the day of the shooting. DeAundre Smith, 19, and Tony Ricks, 21, were also named as suspects.

Bryant and Marcus Rice are being held on $5 million bond on charges filed earlier this month in East Cleveland Municipal Court. 

A grand jury has not returned an indictment in the case.

The shooting apparently stemmed from an October gang-related shooting outside the bar, prosecutors said.

Police have since responded to multiple reports of gang activity, fights, large crowds, drug dealing and shootings at the bar, prosecutors said. 

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