Wayside Tavern shooting 9-1-1 call: ‘There’s gunfire everywhere’

Clark County investigators say multiple shooters are suspected to have been involved in a shooting that injured at least one person early Friday morning.

Deputies and medics responded about 2:30 a.m. Friday to the 2200 block of South Yellow Springs Street on the report of several gunshots fired outside the Wayside Tavern. There were initial reports of damage to nearby homes from gunfire but none have been confirmed, Lt. Kristopher Shultz said.

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A bartender from the tavern called 9-1-1 to report the shooting, according to a record of the emergency calls obtained by the Springfield News-Sun.

“We’re laying on the ground. They’re shooting, shooting and shooting. There’s gunfire everywhere,” the caller says.

Gunshots can be heard in the background of the call.

“They’re all outside. I knew it was about to happen,” she says. “I knew it. They’re still shooting.”

Another woman called 9-1-1 to report that she believed her house had been hit by a gunshot, but no one in the house was injured.

One person showed up at Springfield Regional Medical Center with a gunshot wound, Shultz said, but it’s believed that person was a bystander and not a shooter. The person’s injuries weren’t life threatening, he said. The shooting victim’s name wasn’t released.

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Investigators believe multiple shooters exchanged several shots outside the bar. Shell casings were found in the bar’s parking lot.

One resident who lives nearby the bar said she didn’t hear the shooting but her neighbor did.

“She heard over 30 gunshots and I said I hadn’t heard it,” Kelly Funderburg said. “… She couldn’t believe how loud it was. She couldn’t believe I didn’t hear it.”

Funderburg hasn’t had concerns about living near the bar before, she said, but she wishes the neighborhood was safer.

“We have kids and we’re trying to raise our kids,” she said.

She said the shooting might make her think twice the next time her kids and grandchildren want to play in the yard.

“You can just kind of see the neighborhood declining,” she said.

But Funderburg said she doesn’t know what could make the neighborhood safer.

“We do have patrols in the area so I don’t know what much more can be done,” she said.

Deputies will continue to investigate the shooting. Anyone with information can contact the Clark County Sheriff’s Office at 937-521-2050.

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