It all started at about 2:20 a.m. when police were called to a large fight at the downtown nightclub Vault, 20 N. Jefferson St. A fight in the club spilled out onto the street, and police found Aundric Kerley, 23, in a parking lot near Jefferson and Second streets — just down the street from the night spot — with a gunshot wound.
He was rushed to Miami Valley Hospital where he died sometime before 4:45 a.m., according to the Montgomery County Coroner’s Office. A second person was treated at the hospital for a laceration to the face after reportedly being struck in the face with a beer bottle during the fight.
Lt. Donald Burden said the shooting occurred in a parking lot just down the street from the bar. Multiple casings from various firearms were located in the parking lot, Burden said. It was unclear how many shots were fired.
Around 5 a.m., Greene County Sheriff’s deputies, Fairborn police and Dayton police took a person of interest into custody after they surrounded an apartment complex in the 200 block of West Dayton Yellow Springs Road in Fairborn.
That man has not been charged in connection with the shooting but, after questioning by homicide detectives, was booked into the jail on a probation violation. He spoke to News Center 7 as he was being escorted into the police station and said, “He took off a shot at me first. I can’t believe that happened like that.”
About an hour and a half after the shooting, Dayton police responded to a house on Tennyson Avenue where multiple shots had been fired into a house, possibly in retaliation for Kerley’s death. According to a police report on that incident, three children 14, 9 and 4 years old were all asleep in the home when at least four bullets came through the walls. No one was injured.
The report indicates that the shooting may be connected to the shooting at the Vault. “This residence is the home of the suspect’s mom in the Vault shooting,” the report states.
That woman said she got a call from her daughter just before the shooting warning her that her son had been in a fight at the club, according to the report. The daughter said she called after hearing of the fight because she feared for the safety of the people in the house.
Police found 10 shell casings outside the house and four bullets inside. The shells were from at least three different weapons, according to the report.
The downtown shooting is the second time in four months that a disturbance in the Vault has led to gunfire in the street.
On Aug. 19, officers responded to the parking lot across the street from the Vault where one or two people armed with semi-automatic handguns had exited the bar and fired at least 15 shots into a crowd. A 26-year-old Dayton man was shot in the foot.
Police in the Central Business District said they are concerned about the violence surrounding the Vault, which was celebrating its one-year anniversary with a “Thanksgiving Extravaganza”, according to the club’s website. “This is def the place you’re going to want to bring your out of town family and friends to,” the website said.
Officer Bill Parsons said through the department’s Bar Safe program he’s conducted one-on-one training with employees at the bar in crime prevention strategies including enforcing dress codes and keeping people out who are known to cause problems or sell drugs.
“It’s easier to keep them out then it is to try and throw them out,” he said.
But he said the club’s door staff still does not follow the advice of the police department. “All they see is we are limiting the number of people in the club, which is limiting their income,” he said.
Jason Todd, one of the club’s owner, said following the August shooting they hired additional security to escort combatants to their cars. He said there were five armed security guards at the club Thanksgiving night.
“(Since then) we haven’t had problems until now, but it wasn’t on our property, it was around the corner,” he said of the shooting. “I just really want the city to know that we are doing everything we can to keep people safe.”
He said the closing of other clubs, including Club Envy on Ludlow Street which recently lost its liquor license, has brought lots of “new faces” to the Vault.
According to his brother, Kerley was just out at the club having fun with friends on Thanksgiving when the fight erupted. He did not know whether Kerley knew the shooting suspect. He said the father of three just buried his mother, who’s funeral was one week ago today.
Kerley had a long history of drugs and violence, dating back to January 2006 when he was shot by a Trotwood drive-thru owner during an armed robbery. According to court records, Kerley, then 16, was wounded in the elbow when he and three others attempted the stickup.
He was sentenced as a juvenile to a minimum of one year in custody and a maximum until his 21st birthday.
His most recent arrest was Nov. 4 in connection with drug possession. Kerley also had been cited numerous times for driving without a license. In May of this year, Kerley was involved in a traffic accident with injuries while driving a rental car. Two of the victims filed a personal injury lawsuit against Kerley last week.
Kerley’s death marks the 25th homicide in Dayton this year and the second homicide in the city this week. Quinton Stone, 25, was shot to death, allegedly by his mother’s boyfriend, during a dispute on North Gettysburg Avenue Wednesday.