Sacramento nightclub near K Street mass shooting to reopen under new conditions
SACRAMENTO — A prominent downtown Sacramento nightclub that the city forced to close in the aftermath of the K Street mass shooting is now allowed to re-open with new conditions.
London will re-open next month under a new name, Chelsea, following a settlement with the city. The city had denied their entertainment permit.
Attorney Jeff Kravitz represents London and other downtown clubs he describes as under increased scrutiny since the K Street shooting.
"They weren't involved in the K Street shooting, but the fact of the matter is it created a milieu where everybody is, you know, tainted with this event," Kravitz said.
London is located within what had been the K Street mass shooting crime scene.
"We think they were unfairly lumped in with an event that they had no control over and that they were not responsible for," Kravitz said.
Kravitz calls Sacramento's enforcement of entertainment permits time-consuming.
City statistics show 36 venues are operating with a current permit, and 24 venues are operating as they wait for approval of renewals.
The mass shooting which police describe as gang-related left 6 dead and 12 others injured at closing time in downtown Sacramento.
"I woke up to all the gunshots and it sounded like thunder," K Street resident Keith Avila said.
Avila said London's re-opening will definitely bring more nightlife downtown.
"On one hand, there is good people, but on the other hand, there's those few people that just ruin it," Avila said. "There's pros and cons to it, there is."
It's a new beginning for this business battling back from the K Street shooting.
"The idea that because you're a bar, somehow, 'oh, you've endorsed that illegal behavior,' that makes no sense," Kravitz said.
As part of the settlement, the newly-named Chelsea nightclub will be responsible for patrolling outside the club, too.