Mary Blevins of Mobile has a chore ahead of her that no grandmother would want to share.
She has to explain to her 9 year old granddaughter why her father won't be coming home.
"She's looking for him now, and we don't know what to tell her,” she said Thursday, suring a news conference. “You know? We don't know, she's nine... and we don't know what to tell her. She wants her dad, she wants her dad, she wants her dad. Maybe one day she will understand, but as of now she's looking for her dad!"
Her father, and Mary's son, Jaquell Graham, was killed on Mother's Day, at The Lotus Club... a gentleman's club on Wilson Avenue in Prichard.
And today, Mary Blevins and her attorney revealed they've filed a civil suit against a number of people, including the owner of the club and the city of Prichard.
Attorney Joseph Cannizzo says they're asking for monetary damages and-
"...for the city to take action to declare Lotus Club a drug related nuisance and, hopefully, under the law that exists, have the business shut down."
The lawsuit claims that the firm has uncovered evidence that those working security at the club were "accepting bribes from club patrons in the form of cocaine to allow firearms into the club" with the knowledge and consent of the club's owner, Eddrick Williams.
It's not just the owner of the Lotus Club that's named in this suit. So are the owners of the club building itself, Raymond and Rosalie Zoghby. And their address is listed as another building located just across the street from the club a building that hasn't been occupied for at least five years.
And the suit goes on to name 10 as-of-yet unidentified security employees at the club as defendants, claiming they acted unlawfully and failed to keep the club safe.
The suit goes on to list several other previous homicides they say are connected to The Lotus Club... compounding reasons, they say, the city now finds itself part of this lawsuit.
"I was raised in Prichard as a little girl,” says Blevins. “Prichard is nothing. It's gone to the dumps. They stand on corners with guns, they setting up people, they're horrible, and the citizens is afraid. I'm afraid"
Something else came out at today's new conference. Attorney Cannizzo says Jaquell Graham had been shot in the arm at the club a week earlier.
Harold Miller of Prichard is under arrest in connection with the killing. Deangelo Miller and Raheem Catlin, both of mobile, are still being sought by police.
Catin was arrested in 2021 for another murder, and that case is working its way through mobile circuit court right now.