FAIRFIELD, Ohio -- Police are investigating a nightclub brawl that ended up with five people being sent to area hospitals.
Officers from several departments were called to El Centenario at about 2:30 a.m. Sunday. A fight between two groups started inside the club and spilled out into the parking lot, Fairfield Police Sgt. Peter Laggeman said.
Fairfield Police Chief Mike Dickey said the victims were stabbed or cut. Their conditions have not been released, but none has died. A medical helicopter took one victim away, while the others went to hospitals in ambulances or in personal vehicles.
The initial call indicated there were gunshots at the club. Dickey initially said it appeared one person had been shot. Later in the morning, he said no one had been hit by gunfire after all.
A taxicab driver, James Miller, said he picked up a passenger from the club not long after the fight. He said it was a chaotic scene. Police questioned Miller's passenger.
Officers questioned other people inside the club for several hours. Laggeman said there was a language barrier, as witnesses spoke Spanish. Fairfield's Spanish-speaking officers came to help with the interviews.
Police also searched a gray sedan parked outside the club.
Officers search a vehicle outside El Centenario. (Photo by Michael Benedic | WCPO)
El Centenario is located at 3220 Dixie Highway in Fairfield, on the border between Fairfield and Hamilton. Laggeman said police have been called to the club in the past, but for nothing as serious as Sunday's brawl.
"We've get some fights here, and, like I said, typical bar problems," he said.
The Fairfield Police Department is asking anyone with cell phone video of the incident to call 513-829-8201.
Police also said anyone inside the club Saturday night/Sunday morning should call the tip line at 513-896-8200. Tips can also be submitted on thecity’s website. Tipsters can remain anonymous.
