WARREN - A 25-year-old Detroit man was being held in lieu of $2.5 million bond after pleading not guilty Wednesday morning to a charge of aggravated murder in connection with Sunday morning's downtown shootout that claimed the life of 32-year-old Marco Dukes of Warren.
''I could (make bond) if you knocked it down a few million,'' Dale A. Hatch of Detroit told Warren Municipal Judge Terry Ivanchak after the judge asked if he could make bond during a video court appearance. Hatch was scheduled for a preliminary hearing in court on Nov. 21.
Meanwhile, Warren police released Reginald F. Baldwin, 21, of Detroit, Tuesday morning, but then Tuesday night arrested Derrick Peete, 22, of Webb Avenue S.W., who police said has ties to Detroit. Peete was charged with aggravated murder and faces an arraignment Thursday morning.
Baldwin was arrested with Hatch near the corner of High Street and Vine Avenue N.E. minutes after Sunday's shooting about two blocks away on Elm Court N.E. Detectives said this morning that prosecutors advised them there was not enough evidence to hold Baldwin. They said Hatch also has an address in Minnesota and another one on Youngstown Road S.E.
Peete was arrested without incident at 7:20 p.m. Tuesday at a friend's home on Kenilworth Avenue S.E.
Gunfire broke out on Elm Court between Market and High streets just before 10:30 a.m. Sunday, according to reports. Police said it was apparent that assault weapons were used in the shootings. Officers recovered numerous shell casings in a parking lot in that area.
Fact Box
If you go
What:?Public meeting held by Trumbull Neighborhood Partnership
When: 3 p.m. Friday
Where: Sunrise Inn Banquet Room
Topic: Crime and safety issues in Warren
Dukes' cousin, Larry Smith, 29, 2305 Jackson St., S.W., Warren, also was shot. He remains in Trumbull Memorial Hospital.
Smith was loaded into a car with help from another man and a Good Samaritan drove him to the hospital. Dukes was flown by helicopter to a Cleveland hospital where he died from gunshot wounds to the head. His death was ruled a homicide Tuesday in Cuyahoga County.
Detectives Wednesday described Sunday's shooting as a ''major gun battle,'' indicating that several different people involved had high-powered weapons and Dukes or Smith may have returned gunfire as they were apparently ambushed behind the home on Elm Court.
Dukes was found slumped on the stairway leading to the rear of the apartment house.
Detectives at the scene numbered at least 47 shell casings found on the pavement. Several shots hit windows and the siding of buildings nearby. Detectives said they have recovered weapons they believe were used in the gun battle.
Detectives Wayne Mackey and Michael Currington said with the help of the U.S. Marshals Service, Trumbull County probation officers and agents with Trumbull Ashtabula Group Law Enforcement Task Force as many as 10 people have been picked up for questioning since the shootout. One of those questioned was picked up Tuesday at a motel on Youngstown Road S.E.
Dukes' mother, Darlene Dukes, told The Tribune Tuesday that her son got a telephone call from a man he knows to come over to the Elm Court apartment. He was fatally shot minutes after arriving, she said.
''He (Marco Dukes) was set up. I don't think it's fair. I hope he (Hatch) rots in jail,'' said Valerie Redd of Columbus, the victim's aunt and Darlene Dukes' sister.
Redd and several other family members and friends attended Hatch's arraignment.
''We don't care about his (Marco Dukes) past. He actually saved his cousin's life,'' said Star Mallory, who was among those gathered at the court hearing and who tried to implicate a woman she said drove Pete from the scene Sunday.
Dukes has served prison time and Smith has had several run-ins with the law along with Hatch, who has convictions in Michigan.