After last weekend's shooting in the parking lot of The District event center in Lafayette, the venue is responding.
In a release, The District Management says that after the events of last weekend, they actively worked with representatives of Lafayette Police Department.
The District says that after receiving a letter from Lafayette Police Chief Thomas Glover closing the business, they went to court and were granted a temporary restraining order.
"The District management sought judicial relief to stop, what we viewed as illegal and unconstitutional actions being taken against us. A temporary restraining order was signed, after a hearing, by a district judge to prevent the illegal action being taken against The District," they say.
Police Chief Thomas Glover wrote in a letter to The District on Friday that "grounds for emergency closure have been established" after the Aug. 8 shooting.
"Dozens of shots were fired in rapid succession; this is indicative of a fully automatic or semiautomatic weapon being discharged," Glover wrote. "Chaos erupted due to the large number of patrons who were in the parking lot. The gunfire resulted in one fatality with another individual injured. A Lafayette Police officer was also fired upon."
Glover cited a city ordinance that allows police to shut down a business if it poses an "imminent danger to the health, safety and welfare of the public" and "no other reasonable steps are available to mitigate the danger."
The order from the judge would allow the venue to reopen. It would have closed Saturday beginning at 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. Sunday.
The District says they would like to open a dialogue with LCG and the Police Department to find a better way to keep patrons safe and stop violence in the community.
The venue says it has agreed to increase the number of officers at the location. They say they have settled on 12 officers.
On Monday, August 9, State Police identified the man who was shot and killed outside The District.
22-year-old Dashawn Batiste was shot Sunday morning outside the event center located on Johnston Street. KATC spoke with several neighbors in the area, and many said they heard several gunshots.
One woman, who asked to remain anonymous, said it sounded like fireworks.
According to police, an officer working as security was shot at as he approached a group of people. The officer then shot back.
Residents in the area say that they have had issues with noise and disturbances, many of which are reoccurring. Read more here
The District says that they have always tried to "be good neighbors and community members." In their statement they say they had taken steps to alleviate the noise by sound proofing the building and providing more off duty police officers to work security.
Management says that they have done more than any other establishment inside the City of Lafayette to reach that goal.
The Districts Full Statement is below:
"After receiving a letter from the Lafayette Police Chief Thomas Glover, The District management sought judicial relief to stop, what we viewed as illegal and unconstitutional actions being taken against us. A temporary restraining order was signed, after a hearing, by a district judge to prevent the illegal action being taken against The District. We have always tried to be good neighbors and community members. Taking steps to sound proof our building as well as providing more off duty police officers to work security at our events than any other establishments inside the City of Lafayette are just two examples of what we have done to meet that goal.
After the events of last weekend we were actively working with representatives of Lafayette Police Department and agreed to increase the amount of officers at our property from eight, to nine, then ultimately settled on 12. This was done at our own expense. No one can accurately predict when or where violence will occur as evident by the shooting that occurred at city hall as well as the Lafayette Police Department just over a month ago. The best any of us can do is try to adequately prepare for such events by continuing to do our part to prevent such incidents.
We welcome an open dialogue with Lafayette Consolidated Government's administration as well as Chief Glover to see how we can work together going forward to not only protect the patrons of The District but to stop the increasing violence as a whole across our community."
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