CLEVELAND — Did Cleveland's mayor unfairly target a bar on the East Bank of the Flats after a shooting following the Cleveland Browns' home opener?
Through a public records request, News 5 Investigators learned Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb texted his closest advisers within an hour of the incident:
"Use every dept to shut this place down. If we get sued, we get sued."
Play Bar & Grill was boarded up and shut down by the next morning.
"What is troubling to me here is that if the shooting took place outside of the bar, then there is a high probability it had nothing to do with the bar whatsoever," Subodh Chandra said.
Chandra is a prominent civil rights attorney, former federal prosecutor and former Cleveland law director.
"Really, what that message is saying is 'I don't care what the facts are, let's look like we're doing something,'" Chandra said.
City officials have yet to connect the Sept. 7 shooting to the bar.
Chief Communications Officer Sarah Johnson said the connection to Play Bar & Grill is "part of the ongoing investigation" in an email on Tuesday.
Johnson is one of three senior staff members who were on the text message thread with Bibb after the shooting. The other two members were Chief of Staff Bradford Davy and Deputy Chief of Staff and Chief Government Affairs Officer Ryan Puente.
The final straw?
The Sunday afternoon shooting also appears to have been the final straw for the city and the bar's landlord.
A federal judge denied the owner's request for a temporary restraining order Tuesday, saying the bar failed to show "temporary boarding of the premises was unjustified."
The bar's landlord, Flats East Development President George Kimson, terminated the bar's lease a few days after the shooting.
Kimson said he warned the owners over the summer in two separate notices that violence and gun-related activities at the bar could result in the termination of their lease.
Play Bar & Grill's response
"It's not right to be blaming the businesses for the safety concerns of the city," Play Bar & Grill co-owner David Hill said.
He has complained about a lack of police presence in the Flats when the shooting occurred.
News 5 Investigators showed Hill the mayor's text message thread on Tuesday.
"For them to just jump the gun like that, this is unheard of," he said. "Where's the due process?"
Hill said Mayor Bibb "just didn't care. He basically said 'I'm going to do what I want to do.'"
Mayor Bibb's response
For weeks, News 5 Investigators have tried to talk to Mayor Bibb about his decision to shut down the bar.
He has refused to answer our questions or schedule an on-camera interview.
Today, Johnson said he was unavailable.
Johnson replied, "he had a busy schedule today, and we could not accommodate your availability."
Hill was left even more frustrated after another shooting in the Flats this weekend. A 21-year-old man was shot and killed outside Punch Bowl Social early Sunday morning.
RELATED: Authorities identify 21-year-old shot, killed in the Flats; alleged suspect in custody
"We've been closed for the past three weeks, going on four weeks, and the exact same thing happened down the street, in the exact same area," he said. "Who can they blame now?"
When asked if he plans to file a lawsuit against the city, Hill said, "We have to."
Shooting update
Six people were shot, including one who was arrested in connection with the shooting, according to Cleveland police. The victims have all been treated and released from the hospital, according to a department spokesperson.
RELATED: Shooting in The Flats left 6 people injured; 1 suspect in custody, police say
Four different guns fired at least forty shots, police said. One person has been charged in connection with the incident.
Court records show Savone Robinson, 21, was charged with improper discharge of a firearm, felonious assault, tampering with evidence and aggravated riot in connection with the shooting. It is unknown if he is the same suspect who was injured.
