Villa Tavern Shooting: 911 callers describe chaos as shooter fires into crowd

More than a half-dozen people called 911 to report a shooting at the Villa Tavern on Rip Rap Road Wednesday night, including one who told dispatchers what the shooter did.

“He took off in a car,” a 911 caller said.  “He pulled up, was on foot and he took off and got a car.”

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The same caller said the shooter was a man.

“He walked right up into the crowd.”

Three people were taken to local hospitals with gunshot wounds and a fourth person was taken to the hospital after suffering from a medical condition, police said.

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Officers named Michael J. Prater as a suspect Thursday afternoon.

One of the 911 callers told police he had been shot.

“Multiple gunshot injuries. I have been shot in the knee,” the caller said.

Another 911 caller described what he heard and the chaos that followed.

“I just heard a lot of revving going an after I heard about 6 to 7 shots,” the caller said. “I heard pow pow pow.”

Huber Heights police Lt. Matt Dulaney said the investigation so far reveals the shooter fired multiple times into a crowd that was listening to a live band outside the tavern. The gunfire erupted following some kind of disturbance, he said.

“There will be a lot of people to interview,” he said.

Dayton police also responded, helping with the investigation. A K-9 unit was on scene as well, looking for evidence in a grassy area near the business as well as on the property where the band had been performing.