Shot Fired During Fight at Strip Club; Crowd Tells Witness Not to Talk to Cops

A shot was fired during a fight last weekend at Beach Girls strip club, but nobody was injured and patrons there reportedly yelled at those who talked to police.

According to a West Des Moines Police report, Officer Curtis Russell was sent to Beach Girls, 6220 Raccoon River Drive, at 1:52 a.m. April 6 on a report of a fight that involved shots fired.

When he arrived Russell saw about 50 people on a pink party bus owned by Royalty Party Buses. Beach Girls security officers said they heard a gunshot and multiple people ran west into the woods. 

The party bus driver said a fight started outside the bus when he heard a single gunshot. He could not give police a description of anyone involved, according to the officer's report.

One witness from the party bus said a man by the name of Wop or Wap pulled out the gun and fired a shot, then ran away. Russell wrote in his report that the witness didn’t know the suspect's real name.

However, the witness told police another person on the bus, John Williams III, was fighting and broke a bottle on the ground. A woman who was uncooperative and didn’t want to tell police what happened stepped on the glass, and was treated by medics at the scene. 

Williams, 19, of 1100 E. Diehl Ave., Des Moines, was arrested for disorderly conduct and harassment of a public official.

“During the entire investigation there was little to no cooperation by anyone on the party bus or involved," Russell wrote. "While (the witness) was telling me what he saw, multiple people were yelling at him that he was a snitch and to be quiet.”