A 49-year-old North College Hill man, Michael Leon Talley Jr., has been charged with the murder of Willie Lee Clark, age 37, following an altercation last month at a Forest Park bar, as reported by WLWT. The fatal incident, which various sources indicate stemmed from an argument, took place on August 29 at the Cruise Inn Bar on Northland Boulevard.
According to police, Talley allegedly shot Clark multiple times after a heated exchange of words. Clark was taken to the University of Cincinnati Medical Center, where he later succumbed to his injuries, FOX19 documented. After a collective effort involving multiple law enforcement agencies, including Forest Park Police, the Hamilton County SWAT Team, and the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigations, Talley was apprehended without incident on Wednesday.
Talley, who was already on probation for illegally carrying a firearm, has been charged with voluntary manslaughter, as per Cincinnati.com. He holds a record of at least four convictions for illegal gun possession since 2004 and should not have had a firearm due to a previous aggravated robbery conviction in 1994. His most recent conviction occurred this March, where he was found with a loaded gun and sentenced to five years of probation and a cognitive behavioral intervention class.
At Talley's arraignment, his bond was set at $500,000. "Words were exchanged, the suspect pulled a gun, and he shot the victim multiple times," Sergeant Corey Hall detailed in a past interview with FOX19. Hall reiterated the needless nature of the violence: "but whatever it was, it’s not worth someone’s life." Talley is currently held at the Hamilton County Justice Center and is awaiting his next hearing.
