Order temporarily shuts down Kansas City nightclub where recent shootings unfolded
A Kansas City nightclub where police said two shootings unfolded this year has been temporarily shut down by a judge, court records show.
A motion for a temporary restraining order was filed Thursday against 9ine Ultra Lounge and its neighboring gym, Do Work Factory 2.0. The motion was filed by C&C Development, a real estate development company.
Judge Cory Atkins approved the motion on Friday, writing that the temporary order is both “necessary and appropriate.”
The order came less than a week after four people were shot outside the club. The nightclub’s owner, Alphonso Hodge, previously told The Star that he doesn’t believe the shooting happened on his property near U.S. 40 and Noland Road.
As part of the order, Hodge is temporarily prohibited from operating or conducting any business or holding events on the premises of the nightclub and gym. Both are owned by Hodge, a one-time Kansas City Chiefs player.
Hodge did not immediately return a request for comment Sunday.
A copy of the judge’s order was posted outside of the business Sunday morning. In it, Atkins wrote that the plaintiff’s request “established real apprehension of future irreparable harm.”
According to the order, Hodges temporarily ceased operations of the nightclub following the January shooting as part of an agreement with the plaintiff.
The Jan. 19 mass shooting left two dead and 15 injured after a man opened fire on a line of people waiting to get inside. Raeven Parks, 25, was killed. The shooter, Jahron Swift, 29, was fatally shot by a security guard.
Hodge re-opened the nightclub on or around Aug. 20, the court records read.
“ ... The premises has been open for mere weeks during 2020 and yet has been the site of two multi-victim shootings,” Atkins wrote in the order.
After the most recent shooting, employees at an unrelated business in the shopping district notified the plaintiff that they found bullet holes in their property.
Despite the two shootings, the order reads, the club has continued to operate and advertise events, including one on Sunday and one on Sept. 19.
Both of the September events were advertised on the defendant’s Facebook page before the most recent shooting occurred.
The gym is included in the order because the plaintiff alleges the business wasn’t enforcing social distancing or mask use as local ordinance requires.
“The defendants’ actions disregard the threat of the current health pandemic, the orders of the local government, and interferes with the community right of public safety,” Atkins concludes in the order.
The temporary order expires this Friday, the same day a hearing is scheduled for the judge to reconsider the motion before both parties.
On Aug. 21, the city’s division that issues liquor licenses told Hodge that it asked for a Liquor Control Board of Review hearing. The bar didn’t meet probationary guidelines, according to the letter signed by Jim Ready, manager of Kansas City’s Regulated Industries.
Gun violence will be the subject of a new, statewide journalism project The Star is undertaking in Missouri this year in partnership with the national service program Report for America and sponsored in part by Missouri Foundation for Health. As part of this project, The Star will seek the community’s help.
To contribute, visit Report for America online at reportforamerica.org.
