By A brawl on the streets of downtown Wilmington led to the fatal stabbing of a 19-year-old man. Police charged two men with the murder of Taaron Quintel Jones. Police arrested suspects Ronald Armond Farrow, 30, and Angeleos Roamel Williams, 27, both Wilmington residents, nearly a week after the incident.

The fight broke out Monday Jan. 24 just minutes after closing time outside of Rhino Club, police reported. According to witnesses, the fight involved between 30 and 40 people. Three men were stabbed and all three were driven to New Hanover Regional Medical Center by people at the scene. Jones, who was stabbed in the chest, died at the hospital.

At 2:30 a.m., shortly after the incident downtown, gunfire erupted in the Creekwood community. Two men were shot as they drove in by someone in another vehicle, according to the Wilmington Police Department. One man was shot in the back and the other grazed by a bullet to the head, but the injuries were not fatal. The victims told police they had witnessed the fight on Market Street. Police say the incidents may be related, though the investigation is ongoing.

“The whole area downtown is safe at least 20 hours a day,” said Lucy Crockett, spokesperson for the Wilmington Police Department. “The late night hours are full of disorder.” The hours surrounding 2:00 a.m., bar closing time, are when service calls spike, she said.

Junior Erin Barry was shocked when she heard about the incident. “People get pepper-sprayed for chanting ‘USA’ but not for fighting?” she said in reference to the mob of people that poured out of bars and clubs onto Front Street on Halloween night, an incident Crockett called a “near riot.”

The stabbing prompted the Alcoholic Beverage Control Commission to issue a “Last Call” suspension of alcohol permits held by Rhino Club at 125 Market Street. Local authorities are calling the stabbing the final straw in a series of violent incidents. In a sworn affidavit Wilmington Police Chief Ralph Evangelous said violent and disruptive acts including fights and assaults with deadly weapons continued at Rhino Club after police served the owner Sean Tobin a warning in April.

In a sworn affidavit Officer C.R. Bailey of the Wilmington Police Department said Jones was the highest ranking member, known as the Five Star General, of the Double I street gang at the time of his death. According to a report from the Star News, Jones’ friends and family adamantly deny that claim.

Tobin denies that the fight started in his club and said that it remains unclear whether the people involved had been inside Rhino Club. Bailey, in an affidavit, said the colors of the walls inside Rhino Club, red and black, are the colors that represent the gang Double I.

“I do feel less safe now,” said senior Becca Burleson. “Even though I don’t go to that club, I go to clubs around it. I feel I can’t be as free when I go downtown.”

Leaving the bars intoxicated and often having to walk a distance to get to their cars, people are vulnerable and incapable of handling a situation like being attacked or robbed, said Crockett.

Friends and family honored Jones’ memory with a candlelight vigil on Thursday. He was the father of two; his second daughter was born Wednesday morning, the Star News reports.

“Our work is not yet done. This is only one of several establishments with a documented history of criminal activity,” Evangelous stated Wednesday in a press release, though authorities have not announced to the public which establishments are of concern.