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Councilman calls for closure of Wheeling club following fatal shooting; suspect identified

WHEELING, W.Va. — Following a fatal shooting at the location over the weekend, Wheeling Councilman Ty Thorngate is asking that city officials declare the Mac’s Club a public nuisance.

Wheeling Police Department (WPD) said on Monday that Donaven J. White, 24, formerly of Wheeling and currently of Coshocton, Ohio was shot and killed around 2 a.m. on Saturday inside the establishment on Edgington Lane.

WPD later identified the suspect as Darrell Glenn Lesane Jr., 27 of Wheeling. He is wanted for murder.

Thorngate said this was the establishment’s third shooting incident in the past four years and enough is enough.

Ty Thorngate

“We’ve given the owners every opportunity to clean up their act. Time and time again, they continue to let the city and people of that neighborhood down,” he told MetroNews.

Mac’s Club, previously known as The Edge under the same management, is located at 89 Edgington Lane which is in Thorngate’s Ward 5 representation.

Thorngate said he has received emails, calls and texts from citizens in the Edgewood community asking him to do something about this club.

“It’s incredibly quiet, it’s not a place for a bar,” Thorngate said of the neighborhood. “It’s been grandfathered in for a number of years. It’s a sleepy little neighborhood and the fact you have senior citizens and young families moving in that have to deal with this behavior is unacceptable.”

Wheeling Chief of Police Shawn Schwertfeger told MetroNews his department is investigating the incident and history of the bar.

Wheeling Police Chief Shawn Schwertfeger

“We work very closely with West Virginia ABC (Alcohol Beverage Control). There are concerns about this location. We will continue to monitor that and take any action we deem as suitable,” he told MetroNews.

“I will say that the staff there has been very cooperative and provided a lot of detailed information.”

According to Schwertfeger, the department believes Lesane targeted White by walking into the bar around 2 a.m., shooting him and immediately fleeing the scene. He said the bar’s security attempted to intervene in the crowded club.

When officers and paramedics arrived on the scene, they found White with a gunshot wound. White was pronounced dead at Wheeling Hospital.

“In the aftermath of someone discharging a firearm inside an establishment that there were a few other minor injuries because of the crowd attempting to disperse. No one else was shot,” Schwertfeger said.

Thorngate said he will ask Wheeling City Manager Robert Herron and Schwertfeger to declare the club a public nuisance at Tuesday’s city council meeting. He said by doing so, it allows the city to close its doors. The meeting begins at 5:30.

Upon presenting it to the council, Thorngate said Herron will ask Schwertfeger to review historic data on the property, which was known as The Owl’s Nest before The Edge and Mac’s Club. The data will be from over a set period of time that includes how many police calls, how severe were the calls, and what kind of issues the WPD dealt with, according to Thorngate.

Schwertfeger will then compare that to historic data throughout the city, looking at other bars that have been shutdown.

According to the Wheeling News-Register, the public nuisance designation was most recently given American Legion Post 89 in East Wheeling in early 2017. Since then, the Legion was given a second chance and incidents have been rare.

“The chief will come back and give a recommendation to the city manager,” Thorngate said of the process.

“The city manager has the final decision. Now the business owner has the ability to appeal that decision. If it’s appealed it’ll come before city council for a vote.”

Darrell Glenn Lesane Jr.

Schwertfeger said the WPD will not speak on a motive for the homicide but said Lesane is considered armed and dangerous. He is being described as a black male, 5’7, 150 pounds, black hair, and brown eyes.

The chief does not believe that Lesane is at his Wheeling residence.

If anyone has information, they can call police at 304-234-3664 or submit a crime tip at wheelingwv.gov/crimetip. Schwertfeger thanked the work of the WPD detectives and Ohio County prosecutor’s office.





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