NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCBD) – Authorities are investigating an early morning shooting that left several people injured at a North Charleston nightclub and lounge.
Officers with the North Charleston Police Department responded to reports of ‘shots fired’ at the Blue Note Bistro on Dorchester Road just before 1:30 a.m.
According to a report from NCPD, officers saw dozens of people “running in all directions” when police arrived at the scene. Three bullet holes were found in the front windows and door of the business.
Several people were found inside the Blue Note Bistro suffering from injuries related to either a gunshot wound or “broken glass as a result of the chaos after the shooting,” the report read.
Two vehicles were found in the parking lot with bullet holes.
According to a police report, seven people were injured during the incident. Based on details in the NCPD report, at least five people received treatment at a local hospital.
The shooting is the second at the Blue Note Bistro in a year. Last June, the bar’s owner and North Charleston City Councilman Mike Brown says metal detectors and security guards were put in place after a shooting.
Brown says the conflict started in a parking lot shared by several businesses outside of the bar.
“There was not an incident that escalated in the Blue Note Bistro last night,” says Brown. “To my knowledge, there were people in the parking lot that got into a conflict with each other and opened fire.”
“Our security company is not necessarily hired to secure that entire parking lot, it’s a relatively large parking lot,” Brown went on to say. “They secured a perimeter of our building which is how they were able to see what was happening from a distance. Of course they moved towards where they guys were shooting at.”
Brown says the shooting at the Blue Note Bistro is part of a larger issue in rising gun violence and violent crime the city is working to deter.
“Businesses inherit the issue of crime that North Charleston has overall,” says Brown. “That’s what we really need to target, we need to target the crime that is happening in our city and not the businesses. Because if that’s the case you know Emanuel 9, that happened in a church. What about shootings that happen in a mall? We’re at a place now where people don’t really care where they are when they have conflict. Wherever it is, it’s happening right then and there.
Meanwhile, North Charleston City Councilman Jerome Heyward told News 2 on Monday that his nephew was shot during the incident. Heyward said his nephew is in stable condition. The family plans to offer a reward to find whoever is responsible for the shooting.
Councilman Heyward plans to hold a community meeting at North Charleston City Hall tomorrow at 12 pm to discuss eliminating gun violence with area elected officials. It’s Heyward’s 3rd community meeting since the shooting at Pepperhill Park in April.
No arrests have been made. An investigation is ongoing.
Get news alerts delivered to your inbox. Subscribe to News 2 e-alerts now!