Kenosha bar shooting leaves 3 dead, at least 3 wounded; suspect in custody

A suspect was taken into custody after three people were killed and at least three others were wounded in a “targeted” shooting early Sunday at a bar in Kenosha, Wisconsin, officials said.

About 12:45 a.m., a gunman who was kicked out of Somers House Tavern, 1548 Sheridan Road, came back and opened fire, Kenosha County Sheriff David Beth told reporters Sunday morning. The six people who were shot were all males, though the sheriff’s office alluded to a possible seventh “unknown shooting victim” in a news release.

“The person that was asked to leave . . . wasn’t cooperating with the management there,” Beth said. “So exactly what he did, I can’t tell you. But I believe he returned a short time later and came in and did the shootings.”

By Sunday afternoon, a suspect was arrested and taken to the Kenosha County Jail for processing, a sheriff’s office spokesman said. The suspect, who hasn’t been identified, faces a single count of first-degree intentional homicide, with “additional criminal charges to follow pending further investigation,” the sheriff’s office said.

Beth described the shooting as a “targeted situation,” saying the three people who were killed “probably knew each other.” And while Beth added he believes the gunman “knew who he was targeting,” the sheriff and the spokesman didn’t rule out the possibility that more people were involved in the attack.

“I know that there was a confrontation obviously inside the building, and I believe just outside the building there was also another confrontation with gunfire,” Beth said. “So there could be more than one, absolutely.”

Beth couldn’t identify those who were killed, but he said two of them succumbed to their wounds at the scene and the third died while driving away from the bar. Three others, including two who were seriously wounded, remained in the hospital, the sheriff’s office said.

The “complex investigation,” which involves multiple agencies and crime scenes, has resulted in numerous interviews and “a great deal of evidence,” the sheriff’s office said. That includes surveillance video and the impounding of several vehicles.

After Beth announced that nearby Carthage College had been placed on lockdown, the sheriff’s office later said there was “no threat to the community.” Kenosha News, a local publication, reported Sunday that Somers House Tavern is a popular haunt for students from Carthage.

The deadly shooting in Kenosha comes on the heels of a series of mass shootings that have roiled the country. Last Thursday, a gunman killed eight people at a FedEx facility in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Anyone with information about the shooting is asked to call the sheriff’s office at (262) 605-5100. To leave an anonymous tip, call the Kenosha County Crime Stoppers at (262) 656-7333.