Deadly Baseball Bat Beating: Man Accused Of Killing 1, Injuring 3 Others Outside Strip Club
DENVER (CBS4) -- Denver police have arrested a man suspected of beating four people with a baseball bat at a strip club on Sunday. One man died from his injuries and a woman remains hospitalized in critical condition. Another man and another woman sufferer blunt force injuries but have been released from the hospital.
The suspect has been identified as 41-year-old Ryan Ashland.
According to the arrest affidavit, the 911 call came in just before 1 p.m. on Sunday. Officers arrived at P.T.'s Showclub at 1601 West Evans Avenue minutes later.
A woman told police that when she arrived at the club, she heard strange noises that sounded like a woman grunting and/or screaming. She looked in the direction of the noises and saw a man hitting someone with a bat. The woman tried to intervene but the man hit her in the head with the bat and she fell to the ground. She tried to cover her head and body with her hands and the bags she was carrying as he continued to beat her with the bat. She pretended to be unconscious until she heard him walking away.
According to the affidavit, the suspect went back to the first victim and began hitting her again with the bat. The second woman got up and ran -- and said the man chased after her. As she was running, she saw another man and tried to tell him what was happening. The suspect went after that man and the woman managed to get in the backdoor and locked it behind her.
She told police the suspect then attacked a man who was walking down the street. She said the suspect hit the man repeatedly with the bat as he tried to flag down someone for help.
When officers arrived, they saw a man armed with a baseball bat in the parking lot. A seriously injured man was lying on the ground nearby.
Officers said the suspect, later identified as Ashland, ignored their commands and they shot him with a Taser to take him into custody.
Ashland is being held for investigation of first-degree murder.
