2 Men Accidentally Shot in Latest Case of Violence at Club : Ventura: Police had asked that security guards be required at the nightspot. But the Planning Commission denied the request.

Two men were accidentally shot early Wednesday inside a Ventura nightclub called Club Soda in the latest of a string of violent incidents that have had police demanding better security there.

No one was seriously injured, but it was the second shooting this week, coming just seven days after the Ventura Planning Commission rejected police pleas to require the club to hire uniformed security guards.

“I hate to say I told you so, because I don’t do that to people,” Ventura Police Sgt. Carl Handy said.

“But this is one where we knew something like this was going to happen. We just didn’t think it would happen so fast,” said Handy, who regularly patrols the neighborhood around the Main Street club.

“After talking with police, we’re going to start using metal detectors,” said Shea Burke, manager of the club, which serves alcohol and attracts hundreds of revelers on weekend nights. “We want to keep the public and the patrons as safe as possible.”

Wednesday’s shooting happened about 1:30 a.m.

Police said David Yeomans, 24, was holding a gun that he had brought inside the club when the weapon misfired, sending a bullet into the ankle of his friend, Tyrone Stine, 25. Yeomans dropped the gun to the floor, police said.

When a Club Soda bouncer grabbed the gun and began hustling Yeomans outside, it fired again, shattering Yeomans’ arm, according to police reports.

Yeomans, Stine and a third man fled in a pickup truck to Ventura Avenue several blocks away, where police stopped them.

Police summoned ambulances to take the two injured men to the Ventura County Medical Center, where Stine was treated for a flesh wound and released. Yeomans was admitted for surgery.

Police arrested Yeomans on suspicion of being a paroled felon in possession of a weapon. He was listed in fair but stable condition at the hospital Wednesday afternoon.

Last week, the Ventura Planning Commission reviewed Club Soda’s application for renewal of its nightclub permit.

Police officials asked the commission to consider requiring tighter security because officers answered 21 calls at the club in the first eight months of 1991, including four violent incidents:

In March, a doorman was threatened with a gun, hit with a bottle and beaten by two patrons;

In April, a woman was hit in the head with a bottle during an argument in the club;

In May, one of four men fighting in the street outside the club pulled a loaded gun on another man until police arrived and made him drop it;

And in July, a man inside the club was stabbed four times in the back after exchanging angry looks with another club-goer.

On Sunday, someone fired at two groups of people that were arguing outside. No one was hurt, police said.

Police officials asked the Planning Commission to require the club to hire state-certified, uniformed security guards or at least to clothe its bouncers in paramilitary uniforms.

The club’s representatives offered colored jackets emblazoned with the word “SECURITY” as an alternative to the bouncers’ current uniform of tuxedo shirt, bow tie and Club Soda name tag.

The commission granted the club a three-year permit on condition that it undergo an annual review with public comment, said Assistant City Planner Philip Johnson, who drafted the plan.

It also required the club to post two bouncers on weeknights, three on Friday nights and four on Saturdays, all in full uniforms--but not paramilitary garb, Johnson said.

Paramilitary uniforms would deter patrons from bringing weapons into Club Soda or at least from using them, said Cpl. Russ Hayes of the police crime prevention unit.

“If you want to deter business, maybe they’re right,” said former Ventura Mayor Richard Francis, who was Club Soda’s attorney in the permit process.

“They were resistant to the type of paramilitary uniform because it’s ugly and not consistent with a civilian club,” Francis said Wednesday. “In many situations, it can actually create confrontations.”

Burke said he is awaiting a letter from the city confirming the new permit conditions.