A Chicago nightclub doorman shot and killed another club security guard during a fight that started when the victim complained that the doorman was not properly searching arriving customers for guns, prosecutors said.
Devontrell Turnipseed was ordered held without bail by Judge Kelly McCarthy during a bond hearing Tuesday.
Turnipseed, 23, was working the door and searching customers before they entered Per.so.na nightclub, 408 South Wells, on Saturday night, prosecutor Erin Cooper said. As the night wore on, another security guard, 38-year-old Artemis Harris, confronted Turnipseed at the door about how he was patting people down.
Harris thought Turnipseed was admitting customers too quickly and needed to be more thorough in his pat-down searches for weapons, Cooper said.
The two men decided to take their disagreement outside, where they “squared up” on the sidewalk, according to Cooper.
Turnipseed, a licensed concealed carry holder, removed a gun from a holster on his waistband and appeared to be passing it off to another guard when Harris punched him in the face, Cooper said.
She said Turnipseed fired three shots as he fell to the ground, striking Harris twice in the chest. Harris, who was not armed, died a short time later.
Turnipseed called 911 and remained on the scene until police arrived. Cooper said he admitted to shooting Harris because he got punched.
Private defense lawyer David Drwencke argued that “serious questions” exist about “the intent and whether or not … this was in self-defense.” He said Turnipseed worked in sales before taking odd jobs.
Harris was the tenth person shot and the third person murdered on the 400 block of South Wells this year, a pattern that some residents have blamed on Per.so.na.
- Five people were shot, two fatally, near a firehouse across the street from the club at 3:20 a.m. on July 1.
- Early on May 3, four people were shot at 499 South Wells.
The club recently re-opened after voluntarily closing in the wake of a triple-shooting that left two men dead in a parking lot at 430 South Clark, one block east of the club.
Chicago police have not announced any charges in connection with the previous shootings.
There have been 35 persons shot in the Loop so far this year, up from 25 at this point last year, 16 as of this date in 2020, and two at this point in 2019, according to city records.
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