A trial got underway Monday morning in Cleveland for a 29-year-old man accused of gunning down a fellow patron inside a downtown nightclub in December, a shooting so chaotic that a U.S. Marshal later called it incredible more people weren't hit. Ron Hunter faces charges of aggravated murder, murder, felonious assault, and having weapons while under disability in connection with the death of 23-year-old Monte Baker at Medusa Restaurant & Lounge.
Hunter's trial began at 9 a.m. Monday in Cleveland, according to Cleveland 19 News. Baker was shot and killed inside Medusa, located at 1437 St. Clair Ave., on Dec. 7, 2025, and was pronounced dead at the scene. Officers patrolling Cleveland's downtown entertainment district near St. Clair Avenue were flagged down by club patrons that night, according to WKYC, and both club patrons and responding officers attempted life-saving measures before Baker died on scene.
A U.S. Marshals Service press release quoted U.S. Marshal Pete Elliott saying it was “incredible that there were not more victims when these suspects opened fire in a crowded nightclub.” Hunter was taken into custody on Jan. 28, 2026, at a home in the 6300 block of White Avenue in Cleveland, capping a multi-week search by federal marshals and local homicide detectives.
A Co-Defendant's Charges Were Dropped, But Not Erased
Hunter was not the only person charged in Baker's death. Steven Cooperwood, 28, was also charged with aggravated murder, murder, felonious assault, and having weapons while under disability, and was arrested at a home in the 1600 block of Sunset Avenue on Christmas Eve by members of the Northern Ohio Violent Fugitive Task Force team in Akron. But on May 29, prosecutors dismissed Cooperwood's charges without prejudice, meaning he could still face re-indictment depending on what emerges from Hunter's trial. That distinction matters: a dismissal without prejudice is not an acquittal, and Hunter's ongoing prosecution remains a set of accusations that a jury has yet to weigh.
If convicted, Hunter faces steep exposure under Ohio law. Aggravated Murder is an unclassified felony under Ohio Revised Code § 2903.01 that carries potential penalties of life imprisonment with or without parole, or the death penalty if statutory aggravating circumstances are proven, according to The Botnick Law Firm. The weapons charge carries its own consequences separate from the homicide count: Having Weapons While Under Disability is a third-degree felony under Ohio Revised Code § 2923.13, punishable by 9 to 36 months in prison and fines up to $10,000, according to The Meade Law Group. That charge reflects a statutory restriction on possessing a firearm due to a prior legal disqualification, rather than an allegation tied directly to the shooting itself.
A Club With a Violent Past, Now Shuttered
The shooting was not an isolated incident at Medusa. The venue had a documented history of violence dating back years, including a 2020 New Year's Eve party shooting that injured four people and a May 2024 Memorial Day weekend shooting that killed two and injured two others, per the same WKYC reporting. Medusa has been closed since the December shooting, and Cleveland city officials met with the property owner over public safety concerns before the club permanently shut its doors on Dec. 15, 2025.
That closure fit into a broader pattern at City Hall. Mayor Justin Bibb's administration had already ordered Play Bar & Grill in the Flats East Bank closed three months earlier following a September 2025 shooting, according to Cleveland Scene. The back-to-back shutdowns signal an intensified city effort to close venues tied to repeated gun violence in Cleveland's nightlife corridors.
Violence Persists Citywide as Trial Opens
The trial arrives as Cleveland continues to grapple with persistent violent crime. Midyear 2026 data from the Major Cities Chiefs Association showed the city recorded 48 homicides between Jan. 1 and June 30, 2026, matching the same period in 2025, while aggravated assaults rose from 1,132 to 1,291 over that stretch. Against that backdrop, Hunter's trial stands as one test of how the city's justice system responds to a shooting that also reshaped local policy toward nightlife venues.
