An investigation has begun into yesterday's stampede at a Chicago nightclub that killed 21 people as they tried to escape.
Witnesses said about 1,500 partygoers were packed in the dance hall above the Epitome restaurant on Chicago's near South Side when the stampede occurred.
It is thought the stampede started when pepper spray was used to break up a fight and victims were crushed behind blocked doors.
City officials said they obtained a court order in July to close the second-floor club due to 11 building code violations that included shoddy construction and problems with the stairway and exit signs.
"The owner knows damn well that he was not to open that second floor and he has chosen to on at least one occasion, and that was last night," Fire Commissioner James Joyce said.
Officials could not explain why the club, once a car showroom, was allowed remained open but said criminal contempt charges would be brought against the owner.
Witnesses at the club said a fight broke out, perhaps between two women, and a security guard used a crowd control agent identified as pepper spray, to break it up.
The crowd panicked, surging toward the steep front stairway where some apparently tripped or fell, causing a human avalanche. Bodies, living and dead, piled up behind a double glass exit door that was apparently jammed shut by the crush.