Two sheriff’s cruisers, a game warden, two city police cruisers, and two Ohio Highway Patrol cruisers drove up and down Ironton’s streets early Saturday morning, met at the Rich Oil station on South Third Street, and talked to people outside of Play-by-Play sports bar, but no one knows why.

Sunday, October 21, 2001

Two sheriff’s cruisers, a game warden, two city police cruisers, and two Ohio Highway Patrol cruisers drove up and down Ironton’s streets early Saturday morning, met at the Rich Oil station on South Third Street, and talked to people outside of Play-by-Play sports bar, but no one knows why. Why?

It started after midnight when telephone calls were received at the Tribune stating police were driving around St. Joseph School and near Ironton High School.

After receiving the call, police officers were observed crisscrossing the city in what appeared to be a concerted search. The officers then met at Rich Oil, congregating on the corner around the pay telephone.

An Ironton police officer, standing by his cruiser at the gas station, was questioned as to why the police were searching the city and the officer responded that it was "just a bar fight." The officer would not comment further on any questions asked.

The OSHP post was contacted and the dispatcher said the two highway patrol cruisers were assisting the Sheriff’s Office in a search and that was all the information he had available. He recommended contacting the Sheriff’s Department because they were handling the search.

The Sheriff’s Department was contacted at that time and at 5:30 p.m. Saturday, but no information was available. The Ironton Police Department didn’t respond to the initial call because they were at another bar fight at the Rock and no one was available for comment.

Although the city police and the Sheriff’s Department remain silent as to what happened at the bar, a few patrons were more than happy to describe the events at Play-by-Play.

"I saw them (bouncers) drag this guy from the bar," one patron, who wished to remain anonymous, said. "I saw them put the guy on the sidewalk and then he pulled a gun on one of the bouncers."

The patron added "the guy’s girlfriend pulled on his arm and got on top of him trying to keep him from shooting the bouncer."

The patron added that the "guy" and his girlfriend started running between Auto Zone and Pizza Forum.

The patron described the man as a white male in his early 20s, wearing a camouflage shirt and blue jeans. He said the gun appeared to be a small chrome pistol – possibly a .25 caliber – that the man pulled from his front pocket. He said the man didn’t have any noticeable tattoos or any other qualifying marks. The patron described himself as a regular at the bar and said he had never seen the man before. The statements from the anonymous patron were confirmed by two other bar patrons standing with him.

The only information from the Sheriff’s Department was that the man had not been captured and was still at-large.