An attorney for a 20-year-old woman arrested in connection with the fatal Nov. 1 shooting inside Memories Lounge in downtown Cincinnati says his client acted in self-defense, according to the Cincinnati Enquirer. Deryka Minor appeared in Hamilton County Municipal Court on Wednesday, Nov. 4, where her bond was set at $5,000 on a felony charge of carrying a concealed weapon, the Enquirer reported, and records show she posted bond shortly afterward.
Minor was arrested on Nov. 3, and court records cited by the Enquirer accuse her of having a semi-automatic pistol inside the downtown bar. The charge filed so far does not accuse her of killing anyone. Cincinnati police confirmed that Minor fired the shot that killed 20-year-old Kameiro Blair-Martin, according to Cincinnati Police Department spokesperson Brad Underwood, who told the Enquirer that a grand jury may consider additional charges in the case.
Minor’s attorney, Clyde Bennett II, told the Enquirer that his client acted in self-defense and has not been charged in the shooting itself. In a statement posted online and quoted by the Enquirer, Bennett said, “Intervention helped ensure that my client was not charged with murder or any other homicidal offense or serious felony.” The Enquirer reported that a spokesperson for the Hamilton County Prosecutor’s Office did not immediately respond to requests for additional information about the case.
The shooting happened at about 1:30 a.m. on Sunday, Nov. 1, after officers were called to Memories Lounge on East 7th Street for a large crowd gathered at the club, Underwood told the Enquirer. Officers heard gunshots and found Blair-Martin inside the lounge with a gunshot wound. He was taken to the University of Cincinnati Medical Center, where he died. WXIX also reported the death on Nov. 1, citing Cincinnati police, giving residents a second confirmation of the fatal outcome.
Police have not revealed what sparked the shooting, according to the Enquirer. Blair-Martin was working at Memories Lounge when he was shot, his cousin told WLWT, as reported by the Enquirer, and his family held a vigil and balloon release outside the lounge on Nov. 1. In a Facebook tribute quoted by the Enquirer, the lounge described Blair-Martin, known to friends as Shon, as a hard worker and a musician, writing, “Every room he walked into, he lit up.”
The club is owned by former Cincinnati Bengals cornerback D’Andre “Dre” Kirkpatrick, according to Local 12 reporting cited by the Enquirer, and the Ohio Secretary of State lists a Deandre Kirkpatrick as its registered agent. Kirkpatrick, who retired from the NFL in 2022, did not respond to messages on Nov. 2, the Enquirer reported.
What happens next will turn on the grand jury. If prosecutors present additional charges, as Underwood told the Enquirer they may, the case could expand beyond the concealed-weapon charge Minor now faces. For now, she is out on bond, police have not explained what led to the gunfire, and Blair-Martin’s family is waiting for answers about a night that began as a shift at work.