A Hamilton County grand jury is investigating allegations that a just-evicted fraternity member shot up the University of Cincinnati's Beta Theta Pi house.

        Cincinnati police say Michael Zwain, 24, fired a .25-caliber gun 40 times into a utility room door and elsewhere in the fraternity house on University Court.

        No one was injured. The Raven semiautomatic pistol was repeatedly reloaded and fired.

Some belongings were thrown on the lawn of the fraternity after some members were evicted. (Craig Ruttle photo) | ZOOM |

        The shooting capped a worrisome evening and troubled period at the fraternity.

        That same night, Sept. 22, national chapter representative Thomas D. Cassady went to the house and told some 20 members they had to leave. The national chapter owns the house.

        The chapter wasn't paying its rent, the facility was deteriorating and there were problems with alcohol abuse, Mr. Cassady said. “We have to evict everyone.”

        As he left, Mr. Cassady asked District 5 officers to keep an eye on the house because he feared trouble.

        Two minutes later, officers responded to a 911 “shots fired” call.

        Police said a fraternity member told them Mr. Zwain fired into a closet door and kept shooting as he walked down a first floor hallway. No one was hurt and there was no indication that the shooter aimed at any of the fraternity brothers.

        Officers said they confiscated the gun used in the shooting, another Raven, a Chinese SKS assault-style rifle, and lots of ammunition.

        Mr. Zwain was arrested four days later. He has been charged with inducing panic and discharging a firearm.

        Mr. Cassady said everyone in the fraternity house was evicted but a few would be invited back as the core of a rebuilding effort.

        Mr. Zwain, a New Jersey native, has been enrolled in UC's University College, which awards 2-year degrees, continuously since fall 1996, said school spokesman Greg Hand. He has sophomore standing but was not enrolled in the current quarter, Mr. Hand said.

        “If he was not in school, he should not have been living in the house,” Mr. Cassady said.

        In addition to the message he delivered personally to men living in the house, Mr. Cassady taped a “notice to leave premises” next to a broken window on the front door. Members were to be out by Sept. 28.

        However, at least one student coming out of the building Monday said some fraternity members were still living in the house.

        Chapter reorganization — beginning with the handful of men being asked to remain — will seek to “create a new culture in the house,” based on traditional fraternal principles rather than beer and partying, Mr. Cassady said.

        By the time the 50-bed fraternity house is restored and the chapter is rebuilt, Mr. Cassady said, the alumni and national fraternity may have invested $2 million.

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