Judge orders Birmingham event center padlocked after birthday party shooting leaves 4 dead
A private event venue in north Birmingham where four people were killed and 10 others wounded has been ordered padlocked.
A Jefferson County judge on Friday granted a City of Birmingham request for a temporary restraining order against Trendsetters Lounge and Event Center, GWLLC and Mortgage Reality Inc.
The shooting happened late Saturday night at the small event center located at 3427 27th Street North.
Police said a gunman or gunmen in vehicle opened fire on building where a Birmingham man was hosting his birthday party. The honoree’s mother and two cousins were killed in the gunfire, as well as another family friend.
Ten other people sustained non-life-threatening injuries.
A small memorial to the victims of a fatal mass shooting sits outside Trendsetters Lounge and Event Center in north Birmingham.(Carol Robinson)
The City of Birmingham, claiming the event center is a public nuisance, on Wednesday filed for temporary and permanent restraining orders. The business does not have a name on the building, but city filings call it Trendsetters.
“Trendsetters Lounge and Event Center said it’s marketed as an upscale lounge/sports bar strictly for the grown and sexy,’’ City Attorney Nicole King wrote.
The center does not have a business license, city officials said, said the Birmingham Police Department’s Business Compliance Unit had twice before warned the owners or operators that they were in violation of state and municipal laws.
Additionally, documents show, despite Saturday’s deadly mass shooting, the center still has two future events scheduled, one in August and another in September.
“The defendants have allowed and continue to allow criminal, violent and life-threatening activity’’ at the business, King wrote.
Community members, she said, are in imminent danger.
The request included photos of a bullet hole in the building.
A hearing was held Friday morning before Jefferson County Circuit Judge Monica Agee.
After testimony from police and city officials, Agee ordered the property padlocked “as soon as it can be safely accomplished” and said police are authorized to “undertake any necessary measures needed to ensure that (the property) is inaccessible to (the defendants) and the general public.”
A hearing on the city’s request to permanently shut down the event center is set for July 29.