Lawsuit filed against city, business after man was shot, killed at West Greenville bar

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The family of a man killed at a West Greenville hookah lounge and bar is suing the city of Greenville, the business owner and place of business, and the building owner for wrongful death.

Red Kulture LLC — known as Red @ 28^th — is owned by Darren Vincent, and Circa 70 LLC is the owner of the building that Red @ 28^th  occupies at 1237 Pendelton St. The plaintiffs are seeking a jury trial.

According to the lawsuit filed on Feb. 2, on the evening of Nov. 26, 38-year-old Keyon Robinson was a patron at the hookah bar and lounge. At approximately 10:50 p.m., two men, Michael Range and Dyquan Sweeney, allegedly walked into the lounge. Within 10 minutes or so, one of the men left the bar to retrieve a firearm and allegedly fired a single shot that struck Robinson in the head, killing him, the suit alleges.

Both Range and Sweeney are charged with murder and possession of a weapon to be used in a violent crime, the lawsuit says.

The Robinson family is claiming Red @ 28^th didn’t implement proper security measures to ensure the safety of Robinson and other patrons in the bar.

Ryan James, the Greenville-based attorney for the Robinson family, said they are seeking “maximum damages under law and policy.”

“How do you quantify the life of a 38-year-old man, how do you place a monetary value on a life at all?” he posed. “The answer is that you can’t. You assign value based on life expectancy, but you can never replace the life of a family member who was taken in the prime of his life. It’ll be a dog fight.”

In addition to those claims, Red @ 28^th liability insurance coverage allegedly lapsed in August 2022 — which is in violation of city code and ordinances — up until the bar closed abruptly shortly after the incident with no indication of when or if business will resume.

On Nov. 27 — the day following the shooting — Red’s wrote in a Facebook post:

“On behalf of the entire Red at 28^th Greenville Family, we are completely devastated by the event that occurred last night. Our deepest sympathies go out to the deceased and their loved ones. Senseless gun violence within your community must stop & brought to awareness (sic). Our eternal gratitude goes out to emergency services, security guards, and customers for their selfless acts of bravery while trying to help those in need. While we will try and move forward, we will never forget this day. We will not let hate win over love. We will not be defeated by senseless gun violence. We will persevere and honor the awareness at hand. Because it matters.”

GSA Business Report attempted to reach Red @ 28^th via email on Feb. 6 and 8 but had not received a response by Tuesday at noon.

According to the lawsuit, the Robinson family believes Red @ 28^th and Vincent were responsible for the hiring, training and supervision of its employees and security officers in addition to knowing their security officers were untrained and underqualified to ensure the safety of its patrons. As far as the building owner’s responsibility in the matter, the lawsuit claims the landlord is responsible for the use of the property and the supervision of the tenant who conducts business there, meaning, Circa 70 should have been aware that Red @ 28^th was uninsured and operating in violation of city codes and ordinances, and conducting dangerous and negligent business practices, the lawsuit says.

Greenville Police Department has responded to more than a dozen calls and incidents at Red @ 28^th in the past year, with eight of those calls occurring between September and November, the lawsuit claims. In addition to those calls, there were at least 10 incidents involving weapons at the hookah bar and lounge since it opened in late 2020, according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit claims that the city of Greenville neglected to act and properly cite Red @ 28^th for the known violations until approximately five days after the shooting. Greenville cited Red @ 28^th for zoning and occupancy violations and revoked its conditional use zoning permit and Certificate of Occupancy Permit on Dec. 1, according to the lawsuit.

GSA Business Report asked the city to provide a comment regarding the lawsuit, including city practices when a business tenant is in violation of ordinances, what steps the city has taken in this case and whether or not the city considers itself accountable.

Spokesperson Beth Brotherton said that the city cannot comment on pending litigation. However, the city ensures an establishment has an alcohol beverage license from the Department of Revenue before issuing its business license, she said.

“We do require the new expiration date of the ABLs before our BLs are renewed. We do not require proof of insurance when BLs are renewed,” she added. “We have a section on the BL application that asks for the ABL number and expiration date. It is the responsibility of the DOR and State Law Enforcement Division to enforce/monitor once the business has an established license.”

James said he wants people to realize this incident could have been prevented by diligent security staff  and implementation of policies and procedures, like not operating without liability insurance.

“The difficulty municipalities and county governments will have is ensuring proper permits remain in place, policies and procedures are followed, and if business owners are strictly adhering to these,” he said. “This is the first step of turning all of this around.”