Following mass shooting, Kansas City revokes license of auto shop running nightclub
Kansas City has revoked the business license of an auto business that authorities say was operating as an “after hours” nightclub when a shooting in late June left three people dead and six others wounded.
Mayor Quinton Lucas on Tuesday announced that the city’s revenue division took away licensing for an auto repair shop “operating as an illegal nightclub” at the time of the shooting.
“Everyone, including our businesses, play a role in making our city safer by following the rules—and not operating outside the scope of their licenses,” Lucas tweeted. “Those who fail to follow the rules will face the same results.”
The owner of the auto business has the right to appeal the city’s decision. He has previously declined interviews with The Star.
At 4:30 a.m. on June 25, a shooting outside the building on 57th Street and Prospect Avenue claimed the lives of Jasity J. Strong, 28, Camden M. Brown, 29, and Nikko A. Manning, 22. Five others were wounded but lived.
Last week, Melesa Johnson, the Mayor’s Director for Public Safety, requested licenses for the businesses operating at 5644 and 5646 Prospect Avenue to be revoked and for the businesses operating “unlicensed clubs” there to be closed.
The businesses holding licenses to operate there are Da Shop LLC, KC Perfect Auto Sales LLC, Perfect Touch Auto Detail and Streetsmart2700, according to a letter to Mari Ruck, Kansas City’s commissioner of revenue.
Lucas last week said “dozens of lives were changed due in no small part to the gross negligence of an unlicensed club owner, masquerading as an auto repair shop open at 4 a.m. in the morning.”
Johnson in a letter stated that businesses at that address routinely hosted an unlicensed and unsafe nightclub events at those addresses.
Police have responded to more than three dozen 911 calls between midnight and 6 a.m. over the past year relating to an unlicensed club and its impact on the surrounding neighborhood, according to a city news release. Prior to the shooting, the calls included reports of shots fired, disturbances, shooting and traffic violations, according to the letter.
Prosecutors have since charged Keivon M. Greene, 26, of Kansas City, with three counts of second-degree murder, three counts of armed criminal action and one count of first-degree assault in the shooting. Greene told police that he was at a club called “After Hours” with his brother at the time of the shooting.
By some definitions, the incident could be considered a mass shooting.
Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker at the time said they were still investigating a motive, but it appears it was “a small dispute” that set off the shooting.
This story was originally published July 18, 2023 at 4:02 PM.
