Wolverhampton club to remain closed in wake of shooting which wounded woman in her 20s
A social club in Wolverhampton is to remain closed until further notice following a shooting in which a woman was injured, city licensing bosses have announced.
Police were called to the Whitmore Reans Club in Bitterne Drive at around 1am on Sunday, April 23 after gunshots were fired into a crowd of people, leaving a woman in her 20s requiring hospital treatment for a leg wound. There were no other injuries.
The incident, which resulted in a 21-year-old man being arrested, is the latest in an alarming escalation of violence involving firearms in the city – and the third attack in less than four weeks.
Less than a fortnight before the Whitmore Reans shooting, shots were fired between two cars in a residential area of Upper Villiers Street, Blakenhall, and a previous incident saw bullets fired into the back of a car outside Wolverhampton College in Paget Road, in which a man in his 20s was injured.
An eyewitness filmed the Whitmore Reans attack on his phone from a nearby block of flats and later posted the video on social media. People can be seen fleeing the scene as extended shots ring out.
A window at a property in nearby Evans Street was also damaged, but otherwise there was no other impact from the attack.
West Midlands Police are appealing for anyone with information about the incident to contact them via Live Chat on the police website, or call 101 and quote log 190 for April 23.
A council spokesperson said: “The statutory licensing sub-committee held a full hearing following an expedited summary review served by West Midlands Police, for Whitmore Reans Club Limited.
“The application was associated with serious crime and disorder and was the result of a shooting incident that took place on April 23 this year.
“The sub-committee considered all the evidence before them, both oral and written. They determined that in order to uphold the licensing objective that additional conditions be added to the licence and that they must be in place before reopening to the public.
“All parties have 21 days in which they can appeal the decision to the magistrates court.”
