Just before 1:30 a.m. on Saturday night in Akron’s Highland Square neighborhood, a barrage of gunfire triggered a stampede of people fleeing and trampling each other on the packed sidewalk outside the strip of bars on West Market Street, according to security footage reviewed by Signal Akron.
A small group of Akron Police officers and private security workers were nearby.
At least three people were hit in the late-night chaos in one of Akron’s most popular bar districts — 18 shell casings fired from three guns were soon recovered, said Akron Police Chief Brian Harding during a Thursday press conference.
The APD released grainy screenshots of six people of interest. The victims are expected to survive, including one who was initially in intensive care.
Security changes for Friday and Saturday in Highland Square’s business district include:
- With the exception of Highland Tavern, all bars will close at midnight.
- The city-owned parking lot behind Chipotle will be chained and closed at 11 p.m. All cars in the lot after that time must be removed by midnight (a security officer will let drivers exit). Any cars still in the lot after midnight will be towed, while any pedestrians in the lot may be arrested for trespassing.
- The Walgreens parking lot at the corner of South Portage Path and West Market Street will close at midnight. Any cars parked in the lot after midnight will be towed.
The late-night shooting, eight months after a crossfire homicide on the same block, is the latest in a whack-a-mole battle fought by city officials and some Highland Square business owners.
This time, they’re working to tamp down a controversial bar whose promotions, city officials said, serve as the gathering point for sometimes-armed and sometimes-intoxicated revelers who hang out late into the night on the sidewalk and street on summer weekend nights.
“We need people in our community who are participating in takeovers, like what we saw last weekend here in Highland Square, to understand the danger of the situation that they’re part of,” said Akron Mayor Shammas Malik from the second floor of the Mustard Seed Market & Cafe, which overlooks the block where the gunfire took place Saturday night.
“That level of recklessness should be [of concern to] every single citizen in our community,” Police Chief Brian Harding said, highlighting the shooting that happened while officers were on the scene.
Highland Tavern singled out for criticism by APD, Akron mayor
City officials announced increased scrutiny on Highland Tavern, which was temporarily closed for occupancy permit issues in May and often advertises events that draw far more people than the 64-person occupancy cap the bar has. Malik, in a statement earlier this week, said the bar has “reckless business practices.”
The Highland Tavern will continue to be monitored for “compliance issues,” said City of Akron Chief of Public Safety Craig Morgan, who announced that all other bars on the block were willing to close at midnight, instead of 2 a.m., this Friday and Saturday night to mitigate a repeat situation. (The plan, for now, is for the schedule to go back to normal next week).
“I just want to really emphasize that the businesses, all of the bars, except for one — all the bars except for one – have decided to participate in a voluntary closure,” said Ward 1 City Council Member Fran Wilson on Thursday.
“Businesses have decided to participate in a voluntary closure. This sends a message: We need this violence to stop. We appreciate those businesses for working with us and working with the community to make that happen.”
Special improvement district, enhanced security measures in place
Steve Tannous, owner of The Matinee bar, said weekend nights are essential to staying in business, but he told Signal Akron he was willing to close at midnight this weekend as an act of solidarity with the other businesses.
But he said the business wouldn’t be losing that much more money than when the crowds flock to the business district block — he said he shut down at 12:30 a.m. on Saturday night, roughly an hour before the shooting, because it was too chaotic outside.
Saturday’s shooting is the highest-profile incident in the neighborhood since the October 2025 late-night killing of 25-year-old Timothy Hutchinson, a recent University of Akron graduate, who was caught in the crossfire of a gun fight.
In the weeks prior to the October shooting, city officials and business owners had been discussing creating a special improvement district, or SID, for Highland Square, which was soon approved by Akron City Council as the second neighborhood in the city to have one.
The designation essentially creates a system for businesses to pool money to pay for resources beyond what the city can provide from tax money alone, such as private security and hiring off-duty police officers.
Those extra officers and private security were in place on Saturday. Concrete barriers were also in place in what used to be the parking spots in front of the bars, where revelers often parked their cars and partied on weekend nights last year.
With the SID-funded extra officers and security officers already patrolling the block, the concrete barriers blocking off parking spots and parking restrictions increased in nearby city-owned lots and voluntary midnight closure of the other bars, Malik said increased scrutiny of the bar perceived to be the epicenter of the gatherings is the next step.
“We are pursuing every legal tool available to us when we see reckless business practices like we’ve seen here at Highland Tavern.”
