Two charged with city’s first murder of year

By Charles Sercombe

The worst fear of residents living near the Shawdow Bar came true last Friday morning.

The bar has been the scene of numerous fights and gunplay. At 1:35 a.m. last Friday, a Detroit man, Gregory Nezbitt, 22, was shot three times in the upper torso as he was walking to his car.

Two Detroit men, Rapheal Newman and Mark Woods, both 19 years old, are being charged with Hamtramck’s first murder of the year. Both were arraigned on Thursday in Hamtramck 31st District Court and were charged with first degree murder. Their preliminary examination is scheduled for May 6 here in Hamtramck. They are being held in Wayne County jail without bond.

The two suspects were arrested after “numerous” tips were called into the police department. Detectives set up surveillance in a neighborhood outside of Hamtramck’s border where the suspects were seen.

That effort paid off with the arrest of the two.

The motive for the shooting is sketchy at this point. Detective Michael Szymanski said more details will come out in the preliminary examination. He said, however, that the two suspects had a prior altercation with friends of the victim.

Szymanski said the victim was shot at Casmere and Mitchell. A nearby resident living in the Zen Center told the Free Press that a bullet landed in her bedroom. Police say residents reported hearing numerous shots.

City Manager Bill Cooper said he might take action against the Shadow Bar because of ongoing problems at the bar. He said he might file a complaint with the Liquor Control Commission and ask for the bar’s license to be pulled.

5 Responses to Two charged with city’s first murder of year

  1. Guest

    April 24, 2010 at 10:34 pm

    visit http://www.insidehamtramck.com to vote for your favorite council person

  2. roger

    April 26, 2010 at 2:08 pm

    isnt that whitties site? ….anyway lets hope that its the *last* murder of the year. At least we know it wasnt a random shooting so people dont have to be paranoid about roving random drive by’s.

    Although there have been various problems at the Shadow Bar, this like some issues *technically* happened outside in the street, independent of the establishment so I dont think he will succeed, although a lot of people tell me it needs to go.

  3. HS

    April 26, 2010 at 11:51 pm

    I live near Shadow…I’ve lived there for 18yrs. And I never heard so many Gunshots since that place opened….Yes It needs to Go!!!!!

  4. steve

    April 27, 2010 at 1:15 pm

    Add to that the hundred of Not-Chid-Friendly postcards thrown in the streets.

  5. Cydney Robinson

    July 17, 2019 at 4:02 am

    Gregory Nesbitt* was my brother. He was the one killed. At the shadow bar. He was also shot more than 3 times. Out of the 14 shots that were fired my brother was hit 4 times. Please get the story correct.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *