(MOBILE, Ala.) - May of 2008... a man is shot in the back after an argument inside Atlantis. November, 2009... an innocent bystander is shot in the back inside Atlantis. Guns and gunfire are no strangers to Club Atlantis.
There are many other examples, but the latest shooting associated with the club came last Friday, when police claim 18 year old Cedrick Burroughs gunned down 26 year old Darryl Casher. Police say it was a deadly end to a confrontation that began inside Club Atlantis. It happened a few steps away from the club, on the doorstep of Hayley's Bar.
Today, Delane Kennedy of Hayley's came to city council to say... enough. And she wasn't alone.
"I had a new bartender there that night," she recalls, "and he was terrified! My patrons, we had to go on lockdown! It's outrageous!"
Kennedy lingered to talks with us as her group of business owners filed into the council meeting.
"We're just trying to get the city to hear us," she says. "There is violence everywhere, but a lot of this stems from one club- it really does. We just want this to stop! We, as business owners, go by the rules. We do the right thing. We protect our staff and out business, our patrons, and he's an exception to the rule at this point!"
And they just may have gotten their wish. This morning at the pre-council meeting, the owner of Atlantis, Mark Stafford, went before council members to say, he's closing the doors for good!
"I wish they would just revoke the license," says Kennedy. She and her group are skeptical. They've seen troubled clubs close, only to reorganize and open again a few months later.
"We're just really tired of it. It's ruining our business. But not only that, it was me, right outside my business. What if I was walking to my car, you know, bullets do not have names!"
