On May 16, 2021, at about 1:56 a.m., 38-year-old Charles Dimples Barnes of Bloomfield was shot and killed in the basement of a Main Street building in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Police found Barnes with multiple gunshot wounds and pronounced him dead at the scene. Another man, 40-year-old Norman Charles Peters of Stamford, was also shot and later died at a local hospital.

The basement was being used as an illegal after-hours club that presented itself as a Temple of the Way–House of Worship and violated emergency COVID-19 orders. Investigators reported the space lacked sprinklers, working smoke detectors, and adequate exits; when the shooting began patrons panicked and fled through a single exit, trampling and overturning tables. Several people were arrested afterward on charges tied to operating the illicit venue: Josiah J. Israel and Christopher Mojica on illegal sale of alcohol, conspiracy, and reckless endangerment, and Mitchell Noel on second-degree reckless endangerment. A probationary police officer who attended lost her badge and was fired.

No arrests have been announced for the shootings of Barnes and Peters; the Bridgeport Police Homicide Squad is asking anyone with information to contact investigators. Does anyone have information about who attended that party or what happened in the basement that night?