CLEVELAND, Ohio — An accused member of a Cleveland street gang has been indicted on a host of charges in the Jan. 25 gunfight outside a Cleveland bar that left two men dead.
A grand jury handed up murder, voluntary and involuntary manslaughter charges against 24-year-old Jesus Bey in a gang shooting outside Harvard Wine and Grill that left Julius Claxton and Darien Hayes dead, according to court records.
Bey, whose attorney says never fired a gun during the assault, is also charged with felonious assault, discharging a firearm on a prohibited premises, being a felon in possession of a firearm and illegally possessing a firearm inside of a bar.
He is scheduled for arraignment Thursday and remains jailed on $1 million bond.
The charges against Bey are related only to Claxton’s death, according to court records. Several of the charges carry criminal gang, repeat violent offender and firearm specifications that could add more than a decade onto his sentence if he’s eventually convicted.
Police have said that Bey is a member of the street gang Loyal Always and that Claxton had ties to the 9300 gang based on East 93rd Street.
Bey was outside the Harvard Wine and Grill when Claxton pulled up in a stolen Nissan Rogue and started firing, court records say. Bey returned fire as he ran alongside Claxton’s car, police say.
Claxton was found dead with gunshot wounds to his head and body, records say. Hayes was found dead on the sidewalk near the Nissan wearing a black ski mask. Rifle ammunition was found next to his body, police said.
Investigators found a semi-automatic rifle and a handgun inside the Nissan, police said.
Bullets shattered the bar’s windows. About 50 people were inside the bar at the time but no one inside was injured, police said.
Cleveland police vice detectives drove to the area and saw a large crowd gathering outside the bar. An SUV sped away as someone inside fired several shots at the undercover police cruiser, police said.
Another police officer tried to stop the SUV on East 136th and Benwood Avenue. The driver sped off but stopped at East 55th Street and Cedar Avenue, police said.
Police found two handguns inside the SUV and arrested two men. One of them, Cedric Shephard, 32, has since been charged with fleeing from the police. He is not charged in connection with the shootout.
Bey’s attorney, Angelo Lonardo, said in court filings that surveillance video shows Bey never fired a gun during the shootout. Lonardo said he did not see the video but an employee at the bar told him what it showed.
The video showed a Rogue pull up beside Bey, a masked man open fire, and another man who was not Bey return fire at the SUV, Lonardo wrote in a letter to prosecutors.
Bey’s name surfaced in the trial of Douglas Shine Jr., who was convicted of killing three men inside a Warrensville Heights barbershop as part of a feud with members of the Loyal Always gang.
Bey was imprisoned at the time of that shootings and recorded phone calls between Bey and Shine were played at Shine’s trial. Shine was convicted and sentenced to life in prison.
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