SOUTHGATE — Police still are investigating the events that led to the recent shooting death of a 42-year-old Detroit man at a local bar.
Kyle Wilkerson, 22, of River Rouge, was arraigned in 28th District Court Tuesday on charges that include first-degree murder in connection with the Feb. 13 shooting death of Elijah Keith Young outside Gleason’s Bar & Grill, 19364 Eureka Road. Charges against Jonathan Reese, 24, of Lincoln Park, include second-degree murder.
A fight began near closing time, police said, and pushed out into the parking lot and onto Eureka Road. Reese allegedly produced a gun, and Wilkerson either took the gun or had it handed to him, pursued Young and shot him four times, Deputy Chief Jeffrey Meussner said.
Reese fired a weapon, Meussner said, but police are unsure if he actually shot Young. Two witnesses, however, say Reese did shoot Young, Meussner said.
Young was driven to the bar by friends who likely were involved in the fight, police said, and got into their car after the fight saying he’d been shot. Officers stopped the friends’ car en route to Oakwood Southshore Medical Center in Trenton and called for rescue personnel, who pronounced Young dead at the scene.
Police caught up with Wilkerson and Reese shortly after they had gotten into a car at the BP gas station across the street and tried to drive away. Both had handguns in their possession when they were arrested.
Wilkerson, who is being held with no bond, previously had been convicted of carrying a concealed weapon. Reese, with a $2.5 million, 10 percent bond, has been convicted of several misdemeanors.
A preliminary examination of the evidence against the two men is scheduled for Friday in 28th District Court.
Since the shooting, detectives have been working “pretty much around clock,” Meussner said, “covering every aspect” of the night’s events.
“We still don’t know what led up to all this,” he said.
Anyone with more information can call Sgt. Timothy Scott in the Detective Bureau at (734) 258-3054.