Court filing: Screening for guns lax before fatal shooting during private event at Minneapolis bar

Security provided by a promoter hired for a private gathering at a Minneapolis bar failed to adequately screen patrons for weapons two weeks ago before a fatal gunfight erupted, according to newly filed court records.

Gunfire inside and outside the bar east of downtown in the 1400 block of S. Washington Avenue about 1 a.m. on Sept. 9 killed 34-year-old Cortez Maurice Crumble of Brooklyn Park during a private event. Three other men in their 30s were taken from the scene with life-threatening injuries, police said.

The shooting at the bar capped one of the city's more violent nights of the year. Earlier, 16-year-old Jeremiah L. Durr was shot to death in the 1600 block of N. Plymouth Avenue. About an hour later, four people were shot and wounded at N. Lyndale Avenue and Broadway, known to be one of the city's more crime-ridden intersections. As of Thursday afternoon, no arrests had been announced in any of the incidents.

A promoter identified as "Mo Doe" provided the entertainment for the private party, dubbed an R&B night, and "insisted on providing [its] own security," read a search warrant affidavit filed Monday asking a judge to allow the state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) to search the bar and review its surveillance imagery.

Owners of Bullwinkle's agreed to the promoter's demand "but had three of its own staff ... guard the register and work the bar," the filing continued.

The bar's staff "saw that the Mo Doe security did not appear to be checking everyone for weapons," according to the affidavit.

Chaos and gunfire erupted moments after Mo Doe's security attempted to remove a man from the bar and others stepped in on the man's behalf, the filing read.

"A scuffle started on the first floor near the door," the affidavit continued. "One of the Mo Doe security guards signaled others from upstairs, and a brawl ensued; 3-4 shots were fired inside the bar, and then people spilled outside."

A law enforcement review of city security video from outside the bar showed shots fired near the front door, "and the deceased individual fell to the ground just outside," according to the filing. "Three people then walked away. Multiple other males exited the door, and one or two began shooting at the people walking away."

The video also captured numerous people parked across the street who "appeared to be in a shootout with someone further down the block," the affidavit read. "Some of them appeared to then fire on the males in the doorway [who] appeared to get hit in various places."

Casings recovered at the scene determined that shots were fired from six guns, the filing continued.

Crumble died at HCMC less than an hour after the shooting from a gunshot wound to the torso, according to the Hennepin County Medical Examiner's Office.

Messages were left Thursday with Bullwinkle's management seeking further information about how security was arranged that night. Contact information for the promoter could not be immediately found.