Second incident at New Haven Lounge
More bad luck for the New Haven Lounge.
After City Councilman Kenneth N. Harris Sr. was killed there in a robbery in 2008, the popular jazz club has been linked to another criminal incident.
Ellison McCall Jr., a part-time bartender there, may have been killed in a Saturday morning fire by some men he ejected from the club the night before.
Little is known about the incident, but a friend of McCall described the situation to The Sun and police sources said it was consistent with an investigation into the man's killing.
It's an unfortunate death for McCall's family. And also a shame for what's widely described as one of the city's best jazz bars, which keeps getting unintentionally linked to neighborhood crime.
Owner Keith Covington was most recently in the news after he testified at the trial of Councilman Harris' killers.
Crime reporter Justin Fenton couldn't reach Covington for comment on the bartender's death, and I haven't any luck either. It's possible he wants the club to avoid being associated with another death.
It's unclear if the club will schedule a vigil for the bartender, but will keep you posted.
Erik Maza is a features reporter at the Baltimore Sun. He writes for several sections of the Sun paper and contributes weekly columns on music and nightlife. He also writes and edits the Midnight Sun blog. He often covers entertainment, business, and the business of entertainment. Occasionally, he writes about Four Loko, The Block, the liquor board, and those who practice "
Comments
This ought to be Gregg Bernstein's first opportunity to show the citizens that things have changes in the head prosecutors office. If what is reported is true, these animals lay in wait for this guy, created a plan to attack and murder him, had time to consider the plan and make arrangements for it, and then they executed the plan. A clear Murder 1 charge that should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law (i.e. capital case). No one needs animals like this living in our society whether they are free or incarcerated.
Posted by: Jeff | December 22, 2010 3:13 PM
Agreed Jeff, this is terrible.. Getting murdered just for kicking someone out of a bar, its pathetic what some people will do. What cowards.
Posted by: ryan | December 22, 2010 9:18 PM
There is no shortage of murders in this town, but for some reason this one really chilled me for the brutality. If the allegations are correct, it could have happened to anyone and Mr. McCall was only trying to doing his job (a part-time one at that). My condolences to his family. I hope the perpetrators are quickly found and prosecuted harshly.
Posted by: monty_burns | December 22, 2010 10:46 PM