Christopher J. Crockett, 27, who was booked into the Butler County Jail on Saturday, is charged with felonious assault for “shooting an individual” other than Brown, according to Assistant Prosecutor David Kash.
Initial reports from police indicated a second person, a 22-year-old woman, was treated for “bullet wounds” at University of Cincinnati Medical Center. Her injuries were not life-threatening, according to police.
The men appeared before Judge Michael Oster, who set bond at $2 million for Merriweather and $150,000 for Crockett. They are scheduled to be back in court Monday for a pre-trial hearing.
Shots were fired just before 1:30 a.m. March 22 outside the bar and Brown, 55, of Pleasanthill Drive in Cincinnati, was later found dead.
A fight began inside the bar, then spilled out into the parking lot where several fights began, according to police and prosecutors.
A cell phone video taken at the scene has been used to identify people to question, and detectives have been interviewing witnesses.
Police said there were more than 100 people in the parking lot, but not all of them were involved in the fight.
According to the police report, Brown was found dead in the parking lot and had suffered multiple gunshot wounds.
Fairfield City Council has objected to the renewal of the liquor permit at Wise Guys.
In addition to the homicide, “over a one-year period, we’ve responded to numerous fight calls, two assaults, a rape case, two narcotics complaints, weapons violations and intoxicated individuals,” Fairfield Police Chief Mike Dickey said. “It’s routine on the evening shift to be out at that bar. The bar attracts the kind of crowd they want to attract. That’s part of the problem.”
If the bar contests the action, their representatives and the city will have a chance to make their cases at a hearing before the Division of Liquor Control at the Ohio Department of Commerce. That decision can be appealed to the Ohio Liquor Control Commission, then to Franklin County Common Pleas Court.
Staff writer Eric Robinette contributed to this report.
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