Strip club confrontation ends with one person shot by security guard, CMPD says

Closing time at a Charlotte strip club turned potentially deadly when a security guard opened fire on a man pointing a gun at him, according to Charlotte-Mecklenburg police.

None of the shots hit the armed man, but a man standing next to him was wounded, CMPD said in an affidavit.

The confrontation happened just after 5 a.m. Sunday, Dec. 14, outside Club Onyx on Old Pineville Road, and a suspect has been arrested.

“Security guards advised that the club closed and they were clearing the parking lot when (one man) refused and argued with them,” an affidavit reports.

“Both security guards/victims observed the defendant climb into the Nissan Murano through the passenger door. (One guard) said that he heard the suspect say: ‘No, don’t turn around now.’ ... They looked at the suspect and he exited the vehicle with a rifle and started manipulating it and pointed it at them.”

One security guard opened fire in self-dense, resulting in the suspect’s companion being struck, the affidavit reports.

The suspect, Rylee Patrick Koenders, and his wounded companion fled the parking lot and hid in a nearby wooded area, officials say.

After being captured, 20-year-old Koenders told police the incident was a misunderstanding, the affidavit reports. He said he never pointed a weapon at anyone, but had instead picked a gun up off the car’s floorboard so he could get into the seat, the report says.

The wounded man was treated at a hospital for a non-life threatening wound, CMPD said.

A review of the evidence concluded the security guard acted in self-defense, and he will not face charges, police said.

Koenders was arrested and charged with two counts of assault with a deadly weapon intent to kill, jail records show. He lives in Mount Holly.