A 25-year-old man "entered the melee" between two women at an after-hours strip club who were fighting over a missing cell phone, produced a handgun and then killed three people and injured four others, Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy said during a Friday, Oct. 2 news conference.
"This is what this case comes down to. Seven people shot, three dead because of a cell phone," Worthy said.
Christopher Raphael Gouch, 25, of Detroit is charged with three counts of first-degree murder, four counts of assault with intent to murder, and seven counts of felony firearms. It's unclear if Gouch knew the victims or why he inserted himself in the fight.
Gouch is expected to be arraigned on the charges at 10 a.m.
before strip club shooting
The mass shooting happened in the early hours of Sept. 27. at the illicit after-hours strip club on Detroit's west side, in the 14800 block of Prest Street. Worthy said the fight between the women, "who couldn't control their emotions because allegedly a cell phone went missing," started inside the club and continued outside where it escalated.
Of those who were shot dead, one was a security guard, one was a DJ, and the other was a partygoer. Worthy identified them as Ansley Harris Jr., 45, and Donahvan Gray, 36, both of Detroit, and Kevin Scott, 63, of Belleville.
"This was unnecessary and ridiculous and now three people will never see another day,” said Worthy.
The club was no secret. It had reportedly operated for some 20 years, Detroit Police Chief Todd Bettison himself acknowledged police knew about it, and at least seven incidents have been linked to the address in 2026 alone. Why the city never shut it down remains an open question; the department has not answered the Free Press' questions about it.
And the warning signs didn't stop there. One neighbor said he called police the day before the shooting to warn that violence was coming. The response, he said, was a single patrol car rolling down the block.
Andrea Sahouri covers criminal justice for the Detroit Free Press. Contact her at asahouri@freepress.com.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Man, 25, charged in Detroit after-hours strip club mass killing
