Deliberations continue in Toledo bar shoot-out

Sawyer NOT BLADE PHOTO Enlarge

A Lucas County Common Pleas Court jury will continue deliberations today to determine whether a man involved in the Oct. 8 shoot-out at Route 66 Bar and Grill is guilty of having a weapon in a liquor-permit premise.

Testimony ended yesterday in the trial of Lashon Sawyer, 38, of 2012 Balkan Pl. If convicted, he could be sentenced to up to a year in prison.

Mr. Sawyer was a cook in the bar at the time. A video of the shoot-out was aired on national network news. The video shows him firing a gun after several men began shooting in the small bar at 406 Westwood Ave. No one was injured.

Defense attorneys claimed Mr. Sawyer's actions, including picking up the gun from where he said he found it, were in self-defense. The assistant prosecutor countered that he took the gun into the bar, violating the law, before the shooting began.

Jurors deliberated about two hours before stopping for the day. Judge Linda Jennings is presiding.