Columbus Division of Police cars sit outside Charlie Bear: Land of Dance, located at 2885 Olentangy River Road, Dec. 2 at about 2:30 a.m. A person was pronounced dead Dec. 2 after an officer-involved shooting at the club.
Credit: Patrick Maks / For The Lantern
Few details have been released about a Charlie Bear: Land of Dance incident a day after a person was pronounced dead following a reported officer-involved shooting.
The shooting happened at about 2 a.m. Monday and the person was pronounced dead at 2:12 a.m., a Columbus Division of Police dispatcher said Monday.
The dispatcher could not confirm or deny whether the officer involved “killed the suspect.” As of 3 a.m. Monday, no officers had been reported injured.
The officer involved in the shooting was a special duty officer, the dispatcher said.
A Columbus Police representative was not available for comment Monday.
Charlie Bear, a dance club, is located at 2885 Olentangy River Road. The club announced it was moving from its previous South Campus Gateway location at 1562 N. High St. in late October.
Some said safety was one concern that led to Charlie Bear vacating the Gateway area.
“There had been several safety issues and security instances over the course of the last couple of years that we had tried to address with Charlie Bear, and certainly their inability to work with us in trying to address those led us to some of our decision,” said Amanda Hoffsis, president of Campus Partners for Community Urban Redevelopment, in November.
Campus Partners is a private nonprofit corporation that works on community planning in the Ohio State campus area alongside the university and the city of Columbus. South Campus Gateway LLC is a subtenant of Campus Partners.
Charlie Bear owner Ted Lawson, though, said his reasons for moving from Gateway didn’t have to do with safety.
“I was told by (Campus Partners) that, in fact, they didn’t want Charlie Bear, because one, they don’t like the image. Two, they didn’t like the type of people I was bringing in,” he told The Lantern in November. “They felt that the image that Charlie Bear was giving the area was not good.”
The Monday incident was not the first act of violence reported at Charlie Bear — on Feb. 18, police said a person was stabbed at Charlie Bear’s South Campus Gateway location.
Lawson did not respond to calls requesting comment about the incident Monday.
Some Ohio State students said while they don’t frequent the club, Monday’s incident should serve as a warning.
“I haven’t been to Charlie Bear in, like, four years. I saw that there was a shooting there and I wasn’t surprised because that area is sketchy anyway, and if you put a bunch of drunk … kids over there, something bad is going to happen,” said Rebecca Horejsei, a fifth-year in microbiology. “Because they moved it so far off-campus, I think it’s less safe than when it was at Gateway. I’m not going to Charlie Bear ever again because I was never a big fan of it, but I’m not going somewhere I could get shot.”
Other students agreed that the incident means it’s unlikely they’ll head to Charlie Bear anytime soon.
“When I heard about the shooting, I was less inclined to go down there because of all the craziness and when I think of all that stuff happening, I (think) there may be too many crowds in one little area,” said Eden Brown, a fourth-year in human development and science. “I know there’s some non-student-based neighborhoods meshing with that side of campus and it is a little scary.”
Nathan Tweed, a third-year in communication, said for now, the club is going to have to appropriately respond to the incident to avoid losing patrons.
“They would have to up their safety and take some extra precautions to not lose any business,” Tweed said.
Shelby Lum contributed to this article.
