Shooting outside nightclub leaves 1 dead, two wounded

Police were ready Sunday morning when a gunfight erupted on Ludlow Street in a crowd of about 800 patrons leaving KoKo Bongo, a popular University City nightclub where live music pulsates and the booze flows freely.

A week before, there had been a fistfight and an unruly mob had assembled on Ludlow outside the bar, at 38th and Chestnut Streets, police spokesman Lt. Frank Vanore said.

So 10 officers were assigned to the spot and they responded quickly Sunday when five gunmen began firing, he said.

Before it was over, shortly after 2 a.m., a 21-year-old suspect was killed and a police officer and bystander were wounded. Five men were arrested, and two handguns were recovered; charges are pending.

Police shot Lamar Bembry, of the 5400 block of Race Street, once in the chest after he brandished a gun and fired directly at Patrol Officer Sandra Van Hinkel, Vanore said. Bembry, who was known to police, was later pronounced dead at the University of Pennsylvania Medical Center.

Van Hinkel, a 10-year police veteran, was struck once, in the right leg, and was treated at the University of Pennsylvania Medical Center and released. She was part of the special unit assigned to the nightclub during closing hours.

Vanore said that four men had brandished weapons and that when police tried to move the crowd, the men fired on the officers. Two officers returned fire, he said. A few minutes later, another gunman fired a round, and was captured a block away by police.

A 34-year-old man who was sitting in his car in traffic outside the club was hit in the face and shoulder by stray bullets, according to Homicide Police Sgt. Charles Coan. Police declined to release his name. He was in stable condition at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.

Coan said there were no reports of an argument or fight inside the bar before the shooting began.

The club had scheduled a Halloween costume party on Saturday night. Formerly known as Brownies, the hotspot is frequented by college students who pay as much as $5 for rum drinks. It is a glitzy place where lights flash, bodies grind and music blasts. There are flat-screen TVs showing sports events, and, on special nights, a live band or DJ.

Vanore said that the nightclub recently had been closed and reopened, and that city officials would be looking into whether it should stay open. He said it was unclear why it was previously shut down.