To quell gun violence at clubs, cities turn to untapped tools

With strategies they’ve never used before, Marion and Iowa City officials have gained public safety leverage over a bar and a lounge troubled by calls seeking police help to deal with disturbances, gunshots being fired — and homicides.

The March 17 fatal shooting inside Cocktails & Company in Marion and the Oct. 23 fatal shooting outside Iowa City’s H-Bar — a hookah lounge that doesn’t sell liquor — caused authorities to take decisive action in an attempt to prevent further disturbances and gun violence at the businesses.

Using a new state law in the case of Marion, and an old city ordinance not used before in Iowa City, the cities compelled the businesses to close hours earlier. Marion also placed limits on capacity and programming at Cocktails & Company, and Iowa City insisted its police officers be allowed inside the H-Bar when it’s open to perform “community caretaking functions.”

City officials and police, however, say they are limited in what they can do to prevent a potentially volatile mix of bringing a gun into a bar because there are no restrictions against it — unless owners ban weapons themselves and report incidents. In the case of the Iowa City hookah lounge, officials could not turn to a threat of suspending or revoking a liquor license because the business is not required to have one.

And in the case of an April 10, 2022, mass shooting at the Taboo Nightclub and Lounge in downtown Cedar Rapids — where three people died and 10 were injured — the city of Cedar Rapids wasn’t able to take nuisance abatement action against the business after the shooting because it closed. Dimione Walker, 29, of Coralville, and Timothy Rush, 33, of Cedar Rapids, have been convicted in the two separate fatal shootings inside the bar.

But police said they have continued to provide an “active law enforcement presence” in the downtown area. Patrol officers interact with bar owners, employees and patrons, police said. Calls for service drive some of the interaction while others are “proactive.”

“We review policies and procedures following any type of violence in that area with a hope for identifying preventive measures,” Cedar Rapids police said in a statement.

Police and city officials point out that incidents of shots fired and shootings at clubs haven’t been prevalent in Linn and Johnson counties — although they can be deadly when they do happen.

The 121 reports of shots fired between January 2022 and May in Cedar Rapids include the fatal shootings at Taboo and two other shots fired incidents outside bars. During this same time period, there have been 12 homicides in Cedar Rapids, which includes the three Taboo fatalities.

Incidents of shots fired in Marion were not available, but there has been only one fatal shooting during that time period — at Cocktails & Company.

Of the 24 shots fired reports during the same time period in Iowa City, there has been one person injured in a shooting outside the H-Bar and another person fatally shot outside the lounge. The H-Bar fatal shooting is the only homicide in Iowa City during this time period.

Public safety nuisance law

Marion relied on a new public safety nuisance law — House File 2340 — which deems a bar is in violation if a gun has been discharged, a dangerous weapon was used in an assault or if there had been a riot on at least three separate days within a 12-month period where law enforcement had to respond.

State lawmakers, when the bill was proposed in 2022, said it would give communities local control — that going through the state to yank a liquor license to shut down a problem bar took too long to address immediate public safety issues.

This bill was passed in response to a now-defunct Davenport bar that had numerous service calls for gunfire and fights.

The law also allows a county or city attorney to sue a bar for creating a public safety nuisance and to get a temporary injunction to close it pending a trial. But the city of Marion didn’t go that far in dealing with Cocktails & Company, 1625 Blairs Ferry Rd.

Marion Police Chief Michael Kitsmiller told The Gazette the city found an alternative that would keep Cocktails & Company in business while giving the city leverage by tying restrictions, which will make the bar safer, to the bar’s liquor license renewal.

Kitsmiller said the owners worked with the city because they all want to make the environment safer. Ryan Evans, owner of the bar, declined to comment.

“It’s the first time we’ve done this,” the police chief said.

Before the fatal shooting, Cocktails & Company had numerous service calls for fighting and intoxicated patrons in the parking lot, Kitsmiller said.

According to Marion police, 276 calls for service to the business between May 15, 2021, and March 17 included 216 bar checks there. A majority of the other calls were not related to medical, fire or domestic abuse incidents.

But city and police officials decided serious action was needed after Cameron Tyray Barnes, 32, was fatally shot March 17. Duval Walker, 28, of Cedar Rapids, has been charged in that homicide. It is the first fatal shooting in a Marion bar, and the city wanted to address the issue as soon as possible.

A surveillance video showed Walker starting a fight and punching Barnes in the face, according to a criminal complaint. The two were separated by others in the bar, but then Walker pulled out a handgun, hid it behind his leg while charging at Barnes and firing one shot that killed him, the complaint stated.

Consent agreement

As a condition of renewing the Cocktails & Company liquor license, the owner had to sign a consent agreement acknowledging the city could prove at a hearing there were conditions that would support a suspension, a public safety nuisance and a municipal violation relating to a nuisance property.

In lieu of the city pursuing those violations, however, the bar agreed to close at midnight instead of 2 a.m. It also agreed to limit capacity to 171 people inside and 72 on the patio. The bar also cannot have live music events during its license renewal period of May 1 through April 30, 2024.

If Evans fails to comply, it would be a violation and the city could take further action.

Iowa City action

Iowa City filed a nuisance abatement petition against the H-Bar, 220 S. Van Buren St., which is licensed to sell tobacco but doesn’t have a liquor license. The lounge opened Dec. 31, 2021, and started having service calls Jan. 1, 2022, according to the petition.

The city was limited in what it could do about the issues to ensure people are safe inside and outside the lounge, which is close to apartment buildings and a convenience store, Assistant Iowa City Attorney Liz Craig told The Gazette.

Craig said it would have been preferable to reach an agreement with owners before proceeding to filing a nuisance abatement petition — which she said the city has not done before — but the city couldn’t reach one with the H-Bar owners: James Miller, Katrell Sykes, David Sykes and Malik Maxwell, doing business as Groundwork LLC.

Between Jan. 1 and Oct. 23, 2022, there were 173 calls for service at the hookah lounge, which included large fights and a firearm being recovered from an individual who was barred from carrying guns. Craig said there also were two dangerous incidents near the lounge involving shootings in August 2022, when a woman was shot multiple times and seriously injured in an alley.

Then, in October, Waymond Thomas, 36, of Iowa City, was shot outside the lounge following a fight that started inside. He later died at the hospital. That same night, another fight that started inside and continued outside.

Three people have been charged in relation to the incidents, including a voluntary manslaughter charge against Antonio Steven Scotton, 19, of Cedar Rapids.

A temporary agreement, in place until the case is resolved, was reached with the H-Bar owners in December. They agreed the lounge would close no later than 2 a.m., which is earlier than the hours it had advertised for Friday and Saturday nights. The owners also agreed to allow Iowa City police officers to enter during open hours to perform “community caretaking functions.”

Contempt

However, the hookah bar continued to violate the temporary injunction, and the city filed a contempt action for four separate violations of staying open past 2 a.m.

In one of the violations on April 9, a man “stumbled out of the H-Bar and appeared to be intoxicated,” an officer wrote. The officer later found him passed out in his car with the engine running. Next to him was an AR-15 rifle.

Last month, a judge found the H-Bar in contempt and ordered the owners to pay $2,000 in sanctions.

According to service calls since the contempt order, there have been two incidents on April 23 and 30 in which police officers observed the H-Bar opened past 2 a.m., which could possibly be used in another contempt action. Police declined to comment on any further potential action.

No law against guns in bars

Police and city officials agree they are limited on what they can do about people carrying guns into bars under Iowa law. It would up to the business owners to prohibit weapons.

Iowa City police Sgt. Paul Batcheller said police could make an arrest only if a person was carrying a weapon while intoxicated.

Many of the Iowa City downtown bars put up signs prohibiting weapons a few years ago when guns laws changed and carry permits were no longer required, Batcheller noted.

Officers keep an eye on the bars where there might be problems, based on previous issues, and do bar checks for underage drinking and respond to calls for fights and other disturbances.

Iowa City announced in March it’s also planning to install 13 cameras in the downtown Pedestrian Mall this summer, which will give police access to video footage when they are investigating shots fired and other incidents. The new cameras will provide more coverage area than what is currently available.

Batcheller said the late night patrol also has been watching the H-Bar, but the lounge had been an “anomaly.” Because it is not required to have a liquor license, police were not automatically allowed inside to make a routine bar check. Police would have to get permission from the owners. That’s why the provision was added to the temporary agreement about allowing police to enter during business hours.

Rod Hunt, co-owner of Green Gable Inn, 1227 J Ave. NE, in Cedar Rapids, said he displays a sign on the bar’s door to say no weapons are allowed inside. He said he has “no tolerance” for people who “misbehave” or have weapons in his business.

So he was upset when Cedar Rapids police issued a news release in March that a bar brawl resulted in shots fired outside Green Gable. Such information can hurt a business.

Hunt said as soon as that fight started in the bar, employees and regular patrons helped get the individuals out of the bar. Shots were fired — but that was nearly a block away from the bar, which was confirmed by police.

Hunt said the individuals involved in the fight were not regular customers and they would not be allowed back in the bar.

Dale Todd, a Cedar Rapids City Council member and chair of the Public Safety Committee, said it’s the bar owners’ responsibility to monitor what happens inside the business. Police can’t afford to redeploy officers to the bars and “babysit” them when they are “serving cheap alcohol” and customers become combative.

“If you have to carry a gun into a tavern, it might not be a place you should go,” Todd said. “And (for bar owners), it might be time to reevaluate your business model. Don’t enable activity that’s going to get you in trouble.”

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