A 23-year-old man was murdered at the CRANE nightclub in Birmingham, the venue has confirmed in a statement.
As reported by Mixmag, the victim – who has not yet been named publicly – was stabbed on the dancefloor around 11:45pm on Monday (December 26), and while those in his immediate vicinity attempted to save his life, he was pronounced dead around 12:15am. At the time, CRANE was hosting a party headlined by Italian DJ Marco Carola.
In a statement given by Michelle Thurgood – a detective inspector with the West Midlands Police – it’s said that “there were hundreds of people in the nightclub at the time” of the young man’s murder. “While we’ve spoken to a number of them already,” she said, “we still need to hear from anyone who was there and who witnessed or even filmed what happened.”
Taking to the club’s social media pages, CRANE’s operators wrote that they were “deeply shocked and saddened” by the incident. “Our thoughts are with the victim, and his family and friends,” they wrote. “We are working closely with West Midlands Police as they investigate this crime. We encourage anybody who witnessed this incident, or has any information to share which may help West Midlands Police, to contact them directly.”
As a result of the incident, CRANE has cancelled its New Year’s Eve event, which was scheduled to feature performances from DJ EZ, Kurupt FM, AMA, Joe Hunt, Genesis and more. The venue’s team wrote in their statement: “All ticketholders will be contacted directly and refunded by the relevant ticket providers.”
Mixmag also published a statement from someone claiming to be a friend of the stabbing victim, who called CRANE’s security “a joke”. Describing the club’s atmosphere as “moody”, the unnamed friend added: “I feel like anyone could have walked in there with a knife.”
He went on to describe the deceased man as “such a good lad” who “doesn’t have any badness in him”. He continued: “For that to happen to him is just so sad. He’s always smiling and had a lot going for him.”