Following shootout, city looks to shut down banquet center

Cape Girardeau city officials want to shut down a banquet center in the aftermath of a shooting incident last weekend in which 50 to 60 shots were fired.

The city is seeking to revoke the liquor license for River Valley Banquet Center at 631 S. Sprigg St., and also have it declared a chronic nuisance. If declared a chronic nuisance, the banquet center would be shuttered for one year, city officials said.

No one was struck by the bullets in the weekend incident. The location of shell casings showed shots were fired by at least three people outside the banquet center Saturday night shortly before midnight, police said.

But city officials said the incident was just the latest incidence of violence at River Valley Banquet Center.

"Somebody is going to die if they keep operating like that," police chief Wes Blair said Wednesday.

The banquet hall is owned by Ricky Lynn Werner, who also owns the Independence Place bar.

Werner said he is being scapegoated for incidents for which his banquet center is not to blame. "They are blaming me for everything," Werner said.

The city has not sought to shut down downtown bars after incidents of violence in that neighborhood, he said.

No shots were fired inside the banquet center, Werner said. "We had no control over the matter."

Werner added, "It is not my fault. It had nothing to do with me."

He said he would take legal steps to block the city from closing the center.

According to Blair, the banquet center was the scene of three incidents of violence since July.

On July 21, 2018, the site was the scene of a "fist fight" involving a crowd of 45 to 50 people, Blair said.

On March 31, less than a month before the weekend barrage of bullets, a shot was fired at that location, Blair said.

The police chief said the manager of the banquet center told police at that time that he had no records as to who rented the hall. "That is what concerns us," the police chief said, adding that the situation poses a safety hazard for the neighborhood.

Werner said his business does know who rents the banquet center and doesn't know why his manager would say otherwise.

After the latest incident outside the banquet center, Blair said, police contacted the city prosecutor, who then made a recommendation to city manager Scott Meyer.

Meyer signed the revocation notice Tuesday, and it was mailed to Werner.

City clerk Gayle Conrad said she also emailed the notice to Werner on Wednesday morning. But Werner said Wednesday afternoon he had yet to receive the notice.

The revocation takes effect May 10 unless Werner appeals.

Werner has 10 days after receiving the revocation notice to request a hearing before the city's three-member liquor license review board.

Meyer listed four grounds for revoking the liquor license.

The city manager wrote that Werner permitted or failed to prevent or suppress "a violent quarrel, brawl or fight on the premises" and failed to take "appropriate and necessary steps to supervise the outdoor areas of the premises.

Werner also "failed to operate the business in such a manner that it does not constitute a nuisance" and operated the banquet center without a valid business license.

Blair said Werner has been issued two citations for operating the banquet center without a business license.

Werner acknowledged he failed to renew his business license in January. He said, and city officials confirmed, he received a new business license on Monday.

Assistant city attorney Gregory Young sent a written notice Wednesday advising Werner the banquet center is a "chronic nuisance."

Young wrote the property is a nuisance because of "illegal use of firearms, offenses against the public order and assaults" within the last 12 months.

Deputy city manager Molly Mehner wrote in an email to the Southeast Missourian that Werner has 15 days to abate or make "reasonable efforts toward abatement" of the nuisance.

If there is no abatement, an administrative hearing would be held to determine if the property should be declared a chronic nuisance, according to Mehner.

In response to a Southeast Missourian request, police released copies of the incident reports involving the banquet center.

According to the documents, police responded to a report of a disturbance at the South Sprigg Street address around 1:30 a.m. on July 21.

Upon arriving, they found a "large group screaming and shoving each other" outside the banquet center, according to the report. Near the center of the group, a fist fight was under way, according to an officer's written statement.

Police deployed pepper spray to disperse the "increasingly hostile" crowd, according to the statement.

An assault charge was filed against a 22-year-old woman in that case.

On March 31, a police officer was inside his patrol car watching the banquet center. According to the report, police were concerned about the possibility of violence at a rap music concert.

The officer at the scene reported hearing a gun shot as the crowd exited the banquet center. People "were running from the area and screaming," the officer stated in the incident report.

Police searched the area for a possible suspect and physical evidence, but without success, according to the report.

The manager of the banquet center, Jimmy Seabaugh, told police he was not at the center when the March incident occurred. He said he didn't know who had rented the facility as "names are not exchanged and contracts are not completed," according to the incident report.

Police said Seabaugh stated the banquet center is rented out via text messages.

mbliss@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3641