Vista club owner pledges to make changes if city lets him stay open after shooting

The owner of a Vista nightclub where eight people were injured in a weekend shootout is proposing steps to ensure the public’s safety, if the city allows his club to remain open.

Columbia Police Chief Skip Holbrook met Tuesday with Empire Supper Club owner Joe Stovall and his attorney, Bakari Sellers.

“The parties engaged in a professional, yet frank, discussion regarding the current situation as well as the circumstances regarding the shootings this weekend,” police spokeswoman Jennifer Timmons said late Tuesday.

Eight people were injured in a shootout between two groups outside the Lady Street club early Saturday morning. Hours later, Holbrook declared the club a public nuisance and padlocked the front doors.

Sellers said over the weekend that Stovall and the club have cooperated with the police investigation.

“It is the only club closed,” Sellers said of the decision to close the club. “If a shooting happened outside Subway, would he shut down the Subway?”

During Tuesday’s meeting, Stovall laid out specific steps he was willing to make to ensure the safety of the public and his customers if allowed to remain in operation, Timmons said. These proposals are under review by officials with the police department and other city agencies, she said.

This story was originally published September 20, 2017 at 9:27 AM with the headline "Vista club owner pledges to make changes if city lets him stay open after shooting."