LIMA — The man wanted by police as the prime suspect in the Feb. 4 triple homicide at Levels Lounge in downtown Lima was arrested by U.S. Marshals in Cleveland on Wednesday.
According to a statement issued by Lima Police Department Sgt. Jason Garlock, Lima resident Deontray Forrest, 24, has been jailed on a preliminary charge of suspicion of murder and is being held in the Cuyahoga County jail awaiting extradition back to Lima.
Officers from the LPD responded in the early morning hours of Feb. 4 to Levels Lounge, 122 E. North St., in reference to a shooting. They found two victims — Terell McGraw, 28, of Lima, and Devontae Upshaw, 24, of Lima — inside the establishment. A third victim, Timothy White, 25, of Lima, was found on the sidewalk outside the bar. All three victims had suffered gunshot wounds, and all were deceased when police arrived.
Forrest was almost immediately named as a suspect in the case but eluded law enforcement since the time of the incident. Garlock said Lima Police detectives had been working with U.S. Marshals in an attempt to apprehend Forrest. That joint effort yielded dividends Wednesday morning, when Forrest was arrested.
The owners of Levels Bar in downtown Lima agreed in mid-February to put the property up for sale, effectively halting attempts by the City of Lima to gain a court order that would close the business permanently. A “For Sale” sign remains outside the building.
City Law Director Anthony Geiger had alleged in court documents that the bar was a “nuisance” and a “source of various activities that are criminal or quasi-criminal in nature.” He said the owner of the establishment has “failed to take sufficient remedial measures to correct these issues.”
Allen County Common Pleas Court Judge Terri Kohlrieser, responding to the city’s request to shut down the bar, said the issues raised by the city “… constitute, at least in part, extreme violence and major breaches of the public peace and good order, endangering the health, safety and welfare of the patrons of the premises, patrons of other downtown establishments, passersby and the public in general.”
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