Man charged with murder in hit-and-run that killed 3 outside Chicago gay bar
Chicago police arrested a suspect in connection to a hit-and-run collision that killed three people and injured one outside a popular Black-owned gay club in Chicago earlier this month.
Tavis Dunbar, 34, was arrested Monday morning and charged with three counts of first-degree murder and one count of first-degree attempted murder, Chicago police superintendent David Brown told reporters Tuesday.
Dunbar was identified as the offender who was driving a vehicle just after 5 a.m. on Aug. 14 when he “intentionally struck multiple pedestrians,” Brown said, calling the incident a “senseless act of violence.”
Tavis Dunbar, 34, of Chicago, was allegedly behind the wheel of his cousin's silver sedan when he barreled into a group of people outside the Jeffery Pub on Aug. 14, 2022.
Three people died after the crash: Devonta K. Vivetter, 27, Donald Huey, 25, and Jaylen Ausley, 23. A fourth victim, Carlee J. McKinney, was taken to a local hospital and survived.
Dunbar, a convicted felon, was arrested thanks to the work of Chicago police and “true community collaboration,” Brown said.
“There’s no circumstance that makes losing a loved one less painful,” he added. “But we hope that bringing this offender to justice brings some small sense of relief.”
According to Brendan Deenihan, the department’s chief of detectives, Dunbar was arrested as a result of an investigation that used anonymous tips, interviews with people who were in the area, as well security camera footage.
Detectives were able to track the suspect after he parked the car and walked into a building, “in which he went to requesting for help.”
Dunbar surrendered to authorities on Monday and “invoked his right to remain silent,” Deenihan said, adding that police are still trying to figure out a motive.
From left: Jaylen Ausley, Devonta Vivetter, and Donald Huey were killed.
“Based upon the evidence we have now … we don’t have any evidence to support that this was a hate crime at this time,” he added.
David J. Johns, the executive director of the National Black Justice Coalition, last week blasted Chicago police for not taking violence against LGBTQ people of color seriously and urging authorities to investigate the attack as a crime motivated by hate.
“It is incumbent upon the Chicago Police Department to investigate this attack as more than just a triple homicide and attempted murder, but also as a potential hate crime,” Johns said in a statement.
According to the NBJC, the nation’s leading Black LGBTQ civil rights organization, Chicago is experiencing “a wave of violence against LGBTQ+ people, specifically Black LGBTQ+/SGL (same-gender-loving) people — that the police are simply not taking seriously. "
“We are owed equal protection under the law — and we demand that the law enforcement community treat attacks against us with the urgency and seriousness we deserve,” he added.
