By JOSEPH KELLARD
Tafare Berryman, 22, a senior varsity basketball player at C.W. Post, was shot and killed in Oceanside after hundreds of people spilled out of La Mansion nightclub, at 3942 Long Beach Road in Island Park, and rioted in the parking lot across the street at Island Vendors flea market.
During the fighting, Aaron Daly, 19, Berryman's friend, was stabbed in the forehead with a broken bottle by an unknown assailant, according to Detective Sgt. Dennis Barry. Daly got in his car with Berryman and drove north on Long Beach Road to head back to C.W. Post, when they pulled over at the intersection of Henrietta Avenue in Oceanside.
"He was having trouble driving because the blood from his head wound was dripping into his eye," Barry said of Daly. Daly got out of his car, leaving the driver's-side door open with the window down, and walked around to the passenger's side while Berryman slid over into the driver's seat to take the wheel, according to Barry. "
At this time [5:05 a.m.] a large silver or gray auto pulls up alongside of them," Barry recounted. "Two shots ring out from that vehicle, one of which strikes Berryman, going in and out of his left arm and into his chest. ... This gray vehicle was seen making a left turn on Henrietta Avenue heading westbound."
Barry said that people who were at a nearby gas station at the time said "they heard a car screech up alongside [Daly's car] and heard the shots ring out."
Both victims were transported to Long Beach Hospital, where Berryman was pronounced dead and Daly was treated and released. Barry explained that it was unknown how many people were in the vehicle or from where in the car the shots were fired, and added that detectives are looking into whether the shooters were involved in the altercation outside the bar. "We're exploring why this particular car was targeted," Barry said. "...Aaron [Daly] sustained his injury at the club, and we're speculating maybe it was the individual who injured him who targeted him and followed his car."
Berryman, a 6-foot-7 Brooklyn native and business administration major, and Daly, a Manhattan resident, both of whom played on C.W. Post's basketball team, were attending a party together at La Mansion. Barry said that fliers were handed out at a fashion show on the campus announcing the party at the Island Park nightclub, which attracted hundreds of students to the establishment Saturday night.
At about 4:45 a.m., the party-goers were asked to leave the bar, and they spilled out into the parking lot across the street at Island Vendors.
After interviewing people who were there that night, detectives suspect that an altercation may have occurred inside the bar that was brought out into the parking lot. "It was really a melee," Barry said. "There were hundreds of people out there at the time. We don't know what sparked it all, but we're attempting to find that out right now. Fists started flying, bottles were breaking, and there were gunshots fired in this parking lot. And we actually recovered some of the cartridge shells."
In October 2004, the La Mansion nightclub was the scene of an altercation that led to a Long Beach man's arrest, after he fired a .357 Magnum at a man coming out of the bar, which was then called Club Heat. Detectives ask that anyone with information regarding the shooting contact Crime Stoppers at (800) 244-TIPS.
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