Suspects sought in strip club robbery
samsung1
Ohio
HILLSBOROUGH -- Authorities are still seeking "multiple" robbers who burst into a darkened strip club in northern Orange County with guns blazing in a fatal hail of bullets before robbing management and patrons Saturday night.
The gunmen killed one man and wounded a man and a woman at Platinum Royale, a nude dancing establishment with a checkered background.
The Orange County Sheriff's Office did not release the names of the victims Monday, saying that their families were still being notified.
The robbers entered the club and began firing indiscriminately at the people inside, said Sgt. Troy Comar of the Orange County Sheriff's Office.
"We were told that several individuals entered the establishment," said Maj. Charles Blackwood. "Shots were fired right when they entered. They commanded everyone to get on the ground. They robbed the patrons and the business and left on foot."
The club was very dark, and the people inside hit the floor when the robbers ordered them down. They were not able to provide very detailed descriptions of the robbers.
Investigators are withholding some information about what they know and would say only that there were multiple suspects.
Sheriff's Office deputies were dispatched to the club about 11:50 p.m., after a number of patrons at the club called 911 to report a robbery and that people had been shot or stabbed. Deputies and EMS workers arrived at the club and found three people who were shot.
The three victims were transported to Duke Hospital, and one of them, a man, was pronounced dead on arrival, Comar said. A female victim was treated and released; the other male victim was treated for a more serious wound.
Investigators went to the hospital that night and interviewed the two surviving gunshot victims.
The club, at 2600 N.C. 86 North, about three miles north of Hillsborough, is a ramshackle looking building that over the years has been managed by several different people under the names of Ship Ahoy, The Ship, Reflections and now Platinum Royale.
The club has been the site of a number of fights and shooting calls over the years. In March 25, 2008, the manager and a bystander were shot and wounded during an argument with someone at the club.
In 2000, someone shot and wounded a security guard who was trying to clear the club after a fight between two women. The club at that time was a dance club called Reflections.
Platinum Royale was also in the news during the case in which a woman accused three Duke lacrosse players of raping her in Durham. The accuser worked at the club as a dancer.
The president and operator of the club is listed in state records as Victor O. Olatoye of Raleigh.
Orange County does not have any special regulations on its books for strip clubs, said county attorney John Roberts. The planning board is working on an ordinance for that type of club, but it is not on the books yet and would not apply to Platinum Royale since it is already in business, Roberts said.
The club was incorporated in May 2007.
There are state laws that allow local authorities to shut down businesses that have repeated incidents of violence, but the latest case might not apply since it was a robbery and shooting and the people inside the club were the victims, not the perpetrators.
Anyone with information about the robbery, the shootings or the people who committed them is asked to contact lead investigator Chris Upchurch at (919) 644-3050.
January 5, 2010
http://www.heraldsun.com/pages/full_stor…
The gunmen killed one man and wounded a man and a woman at Platinum Royale, a nude dancing establishment with a checkered background.
The Orange County Sheriff's Office did not release the names of the victims Monday, saying that their families were still being notified.
The robbers entered the club and began firing indiscriminately at the people inside, said Sgt. Troy Comar of the Orange County Sheriff's Office.
"We were told that several individuals entered the establishment," said Maj. Charles Blackwood. "Shots were fired right when they entered. They commanded everyone to get on the ground. They robbed the patrons and the business and left on foot."
The club was very dark, and the people inside hit the floor when the robbers ordered them down. They were not able to provide very detailed descriptions of the robbers.
Investigators are withholding some information about what they know and would say only that there were multiple suspects.
Sheriff's Office deputies were dispatched to the club about 11:50 p.m., after a number of patrons at the club called 911 to report a robbery and that people had been shot or stabbed. Deputies and EMS workers arrived at the club and found three people who were shot.
The three victims were transported to Duke Hospital, and one of them, a man, was pronounced dead on arrival, Comar said. A female victim was treated and released; the other male victim was treated for a more serious wound.
Investigators went to the hospital that night and interviewed the two surviving gunshot victims.
The club, at 2600 N.C. 86 North, about three miles north of Hillsborough, is a ramshackle looking building that over the years has been managed by several different people under the names of Ship Ahoy, The Ship, Reflections and now Platinum Royale.
The club has been the site of a number of fights and shooting calls over the years. In March 25, 2008, the manager and a bystander were shot and wounded during an argument with someone at the club.
In 2000, someone shot and wounded a security guard who was trying to clear the club after a fight between two women. The club at that time was a dance club called Reflections.
Platinum Royale was also in the news during the case in which a woman accused three Duke lacrosse players of raping her in Durham. The accuser worked at the club as a dancer.
The president and operator of the club is listed in state records as Victor O. Olatoye of Raleigh.
Orange County does not have any special regulations on its books for strip clubs, said county attorney John Roberts. The planning board is working on an ordinance for that type of club, but it is not on the books yet and would not apply to Platinum Royale since it is already in business, Roberts said.
The club was incorporated in May 2007.
There are state laws that allow local authorities to shut down businesses that have repeated incidents of violence, but the latest case might not apply since it was a robbery and shooting and the people inside the club were the victims, not the perpetrators.
Anyone with information about the robbery, the shootings or the people who committed them is asked to contact lead investigator Chris Upchurch at (919) 644-3050.
January 5, 2010
http://www.heraldsun.com/pages/full_stor…
Got something to say?
Start your own discussion
1 comment