Jackson Free Press

Tension between the city and one of its more popular nightclubs has returned after three Monday morning shootings near the club. All three victims survived the shootings, with two in fair condition Tuesday and one released from the University Medical Center on Monday. Justin Shannon is facing two separate counts of aggravated assault. A previously convicted felon, Shannon is also facing a firearms possession charge, which could get him an additional 10 years if he is convicted.

Jackson Police Chief Malcolm McMillin said he would like the club closed as a public nuisance because of the number of shootings happening on or near club property.

"I think they need to operate their business as well as others who are in the same type of business operate their businesses," McMillin said, explaining that the city contains many clubs where shootings don't happen.

Six people fell victim to gunplay near the club in June 2005, including LaKita Williams, who died from her injuries.

Jackson attorney Chokwe Lumumba, who has represented Upper Level owner Sandra Moore Johnson, would not comment on McMillin's insistence to close the club, but planned a Thursday morning press conference with attorneys Imhotep Alkebu-lan and Sharon Gipson at his office on Mill Street.

Lumumba has said in earlier press conferences that the shootings at the club do not happen inside the club, or even in the club's parking lot, and warned that other clubs face similar or worse behavior from patrons.

Nevertheless, Jackson Mayor Frank Melton declared war on the club at the onset of his mayoral career in 2005. Owners filed an injunction after the mayor began appearing at the club, wearing a police badge and trailed by police officers looking to close the club down as a public nuisance.

The 2005 injunction claims Melton harassed club patrons during repeated visits in June and July of that year, "searching the club and patrons without provocation."

Melton further confused the issue in 2006, after showing up with an entourage of city employees and young friends who allegedly assaulted club manager Tonari Moore. Moore told the Jackson Free Press in 2006 that he had been handcuffed by police after photographing Melton and his friends in the club violating the 2005 court order. That same night, witnesses say Melton and his entourage destroyed a house on Ridgeway Street, an act for which Melton was found not guilty in 2007 by a Hinds County Circuit Court jury, even though he never denied committing the act.

Moore said he was restrained and led outside that night, where he claims some of Melton's companions kicked and beat him while he was in handcuffs. Moore told the Jackson Free Press that he smelled alcohol on Melton's breath at the time of the beating.

A motion dismissed by special Judge Joe Webster during Melton's 2007 felony trial for the illegal demolition of the Ridgeway Street home revealed that paramedic Derrick Malone was prepared to testify about Melton's behavior. Malone, who was in the ambulance with Melton and Moore after Moore's beating, was ready to testify that he "smelled the aroma of alcohol," and observed that "Melton's speech was slurred."

Melton's attorney Dale Danks told The Clarion-Ledger at the time that the motion was "another attempt to try this case in the newspaper in lieu of where it belongs."

Upper Level management filed a notice of intent to sue the city and Melton after the incident, though no record of a suit sits in Hinds County Circuit Court as of May 20, 2008.

The club owners' injunction against the city still stands, however, and the city will have to find a way around that if it intends to pursue closing the business.

McMillin said closing a business as a public nuisance is no easy matter unless there is overwhelming evidence that the atmosphere of the club exudes amorality. At the moment, however, McMillin's officers can't even go to the Upper Level unless they are responding to a call directing them to the club's address on Northside Drive.

Still, McMillin said he would not have people looking into the possibility of closing the business if he felt the public nuisance accusation was farfetched.