A Lima City Councilman is pushing for the city to close down a bar that has been the focus of two shooting investigations. The first shooting case took place on March 25th, where Lima Police states that in the early morning hours they were called to Marko's for a report of a fight. When detectives arrived on scene, they learned that a fight broke out when a reported gunshot was heard. They found 44-year-old Ralph Upshaw shot in the back. 32-year-old Chainze Tucker was arrested for that shooting.
A little over a week later on April 2nd, another shooting occurred at Markos. Detectives state that they were called to Markos where they found 24-year-old Rico Stafford suffering from a gunshot wound outside of the bar around 1 am. Stafford was taken to an area hospital.
Lima City Councilman Dr. Derry Glenn is now calling for the City to close the bar in response to the recent shootings. Glenn also states that there is a long history to be looked at when it comes to the bar.
"We shouldn't allow all of these attempted murders at a bar when we see other bars closed down quick," said Glenn. "I want to see this one closed down quick too. This has been an ongoing problem in the 6th ward. This is ridiculous in our ward that we are dealing with this." Glenn continued, "Over and over and over, it's a fight that I have been continuing... and people continue calling me thinking that I can shut a place down. It's not up to me, it's up to our mayor, our law director, and our police department."
The Lima City Councilman states that he will be talking with the City's law director on the matter, as well as presenting a motion at the next Lima City Council meeting. Other bars have been closed in the City of Lima after a shooting. Level's Bar had a triple homicide occur on its premises, causing the city to file a restraining order to close the bar pursuit to Ohio's nuisance laws. The bar was then closed in February 2020 after the injunction was granted.
Ketzy's bar also saw a closing after numerous calls for service from the Lima Police Department, causing the department to be short on resources. City Council then filed an objection to the renewal of their liquor permit, while also filing a nuisance action.
The Division of Liquor Control then sustained that objection and rejected the bar's application to renew its liquor permit. The bar has been permanently closed since then.
