Vista shooting club owner to pay fines for fire code violations
A club owner whose business in the Vista was deemed a nuisance after a weekend shooting that injured eight will pay more than $2,000 in fines for fire code violations last month.
A city judge found Joseph Brando Stovall guilty Monday on four violations discovered by Columbia fire marshals during a random Aug. 19 inspection of the Empire Supper Club, 920 Lady St.
Fire marshals found an exit that was obstructed, fire extinguishers that were not up to date, an exposed electrical panel and emergency exit lights that were not working.
Fire Marshal Ken Willis said in court Monday that he returned to the business on Friday, just hours before the shooting, and saw that Stovall had corrected the problems.
“It’s my understanding that this is a club that has had numerous problems in terms of fire safety,” Assistant City Attorney Jess Mangum told a Quality of Life Court judge. The Columbia Fire Department has not said how many prior violations the business had.
Stovall and his attorney are to meet Tuesday with Columbia Police Chief Skip Holbrook to discuss the chief’s plan to close the club, Holbrook said.
Stovall told a reporter after Monday’s hearing that one of his employees had not removed a bag of trash that was blocking an exit door, prompting the obstruction violation. A technician had completed some electrical work earlier and did not close the breaker box, which led to the electrical panel violation, Stoval said.
Most of the problems were fixed within a day of the inspection, he said.
Four men and four women were shot just outside the club around 2 a.m. Saturday. Holbrook later that day declared the business a public nuisance and padlocked the building.
Holbrook has said Stovall is not a target in the police investigation into the shooting, and there was no mention of the shooting during Monday’s hearing.
This story was originally published September 18, 2017 at 3:07 PM with the headline "Vista shooting club owner to pay fines for fire code violations."