Kenosha fire officials describe chaotic scene at MVP Bar during Sunday's shooting

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KENOSHA, Wis. (CBS 58)-- “Police were pulling people out, physically grabbing on to their shirts, pulling them out of the doorway, and grabbing the next person,” said Guy Santelli, Division Chief of Fire Prevention for the Kenosha Fire Department.

Kenosha fire officials describe the chaotic scene they arrived to after an early Sunday morning shooting at MVP Bar. Kenosha police say a 28-year-old man is now in stable, but critical condition after being shot in the neck.

The shooting happened just before 2 a.m. Sunday morning. Police were prevented from immediately going into the building because people were struggling to get out.

Nearby businesses who did not want to go on camera tell CBS 58 MVP Bar is giving the neighborhood a bad reputation, adding there’s constant parking issues and people fighting on the weekends.

The bar on 60th street has a capacity of 140 people, but Santelli says the bar was over capacity early Sunday morning.

“The police did not have an accurate count of how many people were in there, but they definitely felt there were more than 140 people there at the time of the accident,” said Santelli.

More than a half a dozen squad cars were in a video recorded across the street from MVP. Police officers tried to go into the bar immediately, but were blocked by the amount of people trying to squeeze out.

“Whenever you go over that amount, in a panic situation like they had -- then we start seeing the mauling, the crawling over people and people being trampled,” adds Santelli. “We actually had people walking on people to get out, we were lucky we didn’t have more injuries that evening.”

In Kenosha, bars are given points for violations. If you hit more than 100 points, your licenses could be revoked. City records show MVP Bar was given 20 points in March for not having a licensed bartender present.

“I believe that you can be shut down, you can have your cabaret license pulled and you can have your liquor license pulled,” said Santelli.

Santelli says they never want to take anyone’s license away, but hope the shooting can serve as a lesson for area businesses to follow the rules.

“Once you lose your license, it’s extremely hard to get your license back,”Santelli adds.

The Kenosha Police Chief filed a request to suspend the bar's cabaret license on Wednesday. 

The Kenosha mayor must approve the suspension before it goes to a hearing.

CBS 58 reached out to MVP Bar owners for a comment, but never received a call back.


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