The two suspects in Friday morning’s shooting outside of Spiro’s on Red River, which left 8 people injured, including one still in critical condition, turned themselves in to the Fayette County Sheriff’s Office Friday afternoon. Brother’s Brandon Bruce Hutchison and LaBaaron Demon Hutchison of the La Grange rap group L.G. Allstarz have been charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, but the debate over the fallout from the incident is just beginning.
Assistant Travis County District Attorney David Laibovitz is already pursuing a criminal investigation against the club through the APD’s nuisance abatement unit, saying: “If necessary we will go to court and ask a judge to declare Spiro’s to be declared a common nuisance.” In 2008, APD responded to 172 calls at the club, and while the police did not release details about the nature of the calls, KVUE reports that the TACB has claimed “most of the calls were for fights, stabbings, and shootings.” The TACB has 20 violations on record against Spiro’s since 2005, and has closed the club for seven days and is looking into whether the owners could have done anything to prevent the assault.
While there now seems to be a strident effort to have the club shuttered, and there are reports that the owner has already been evicted, it’s also easy to consider Spiro’s as simply a convenient scapegoat upon which to unleash frustration with the ever-increasing crime problem downtown. Over the past few years, assaults and thefts in the area have been on the rise, including attacks against women and couples on Sixth Street and in the Warehouse District, several stabbings, and the much publicized fatal beating of 20 year old Nikolas Evans downtown.
Closing down Spiro’s may be a start to helping get the highly trafficked area, which is the heart of our local music scene, under control, but will it have an impact on making Red River and the Entertainment District any safer? As with the 2007 adoption of the BYOB ordinance in order to basically shut down Chester’s Nightclub on the Eastside, it seems the city has no problem finding ways to close clubs it feels are a nuisance, but is Spiro’s responsible if a couple of dumbass thugs shoot into the crowd outside their venue? We’re somewhat skeptical that simply closing the club will actually solve any of the real problems, and think the bigger issue of the violence downtown needs to be addressed beyond simply laying the blame at Spiro’s doorstep. On the other hand, Spiro’s has been a consistent problem for the APD, despite the club’s hiring extra private security on the weekends, and if they can’t keep their patrons under control, then perhaps the city should.
That place should have been shut down long before this happened. It’s not just this one event, but the pattern and whole environment of trouble that Spiros created.
they are owned by the greek mafia. right?
You bet they are: Spiros Velentzas.
Shutting down Spiro’s isn’t going to change anything in the long run. Look at this interview (by News8) with one of the first officers at the scene:
You’re telling me in 2008 police were called to the club 172 times, and there’s not even an officer stationed near the club on a Thursday night? Not to fault Officer Socho himself here, but a large portion of police presence is perceived safety, both as a reassurance to the public and as a deterrent to possible crime. This incident indicates neither. If there were officers already stationed near Spiro’s, I doubt we’d be seeing 8 people injured and suspects who were, up until just recently (and no thanks to the police), still at-large. How is APD supposed to be taken seriously if they’re not even on-hand to witness (or god forbid to police) the incident?
I agree with Casseta’s comment. Why is the club responsible? This is the police’s responsibility. And you say there have been 20 violations against Spiros, but that’s since 2005. That’s like over 4 years. I’d be curious to know how many violations some of your “indie” clubs have, like how many times the punks at Emo’s have been had the police called or been given a ticket by the TABC.
Seems to me Spiros did everything they were supposed to. They booted the guys from the club, and once they’re on the street, the police should have been there.
If the city knows that they have a problematic club that has had many violations in a problematic area, why wont they simply keep some foot patrol’s around and have a cruiser in close vicinity of the area patrolling hot spots. I agree its not the clubs fault for some angry thugs coming back and lighting the place up, and even though the club tolerates an aggressive scene and aggressive behavior, it is the police’s job to create a visible presence to remind people of the consequence of their actions and to be ready to deal with situations that escalate out of control of the citizens and the establishment’s owners and staff. I am personally not a fan of Spiro’s and I certainly don’t condone what goes on there, but everyone is entitled to get their freak on however they like. If their are no consequences being dealt out for unacceptable actions, whats stopping criminals from caring about being predators on the people of Austin.
I don’t know, sure the cops should have been there given its history, but anyone that’s been downtown and had to deal with the crowds from that club know it’s nothing but trouble. There’s no other place on Red River that causes as many problems as that crap-dive
I also don’t think APD can really just have cops stationed in or around Spiros every single night. They don’t have enough men on the force to just have guys standing around outside a club. If a club needs cops stationed outside on a nightly basis, then another plan needs to be put into place. How about metal detectors?
I’m really afraid that this is soon to turn into a huge racial issue.
RayRay-
The APD could increase patrols in front of Spiros; As it is, the # of officers patrolling 6th is probably greater than the number of officers patrolling Red River, 5th and 7th streets solely because the volume of people (and clubs) is also greater on 6th.
As a long time (6.5+ years) downtown resident, I’m unfortunately acutely aware of the lack of bike and horse patrols off of 6th street. The same officers standing at the corner of 6th and Trinity are often completely unaware that drug deals are taking place on 5th and Trinity (and/or in the park next to the Fire Station). And, sadly, I’ve gotten the impression that asking an officer politely to go intercede with a drug deal is not really acceptable; One has to call 911 and have the dispatch tell the correct officers to go check it out. The mobile (bike or horse) cops seem to be “allowed” to intervene on suspicious activity whereas the guys standing at the corner are supposed to keep an eye on their corner only.
Unfortunately — as you note — there’s a fixed number of officers and a large area to patrol, but riding some of those officers on a larger loop around 5th, 7th, and Red River would begin to deter the undesirable activity. I, for one, am against the Rudy Guiliani approach to crime where the APD stations 10 battle ready cops in riot helmets on every corner but there’s some happy medium since (clearly) people are idiots and can’t be trusted not to shoot thy neighbor.
Anyway, I’m not in favor of shutting down Spiro’s just because the clientele doesn’t fit with the rest of Red River’s “normal” crowd. I’ve walked by there thousands of times and not once have I ever been harassed, touched, or even looked at funnily. I think a few bad seeds isn’t reason to put them out of business even if those bad seeds were stupid enough to shoot their fans in the stomach; I do think repeated violations of the rules, regulations, and laws is reason to continue to enforce said rules, regulations, and laws and if that enforcement leads to Spiro’s closing shop (like enforcement did to Paradox), so be it.
I wrote my own opinion article about this debate on my blog ‘NITES here:
http://nitesatx.blogspot.com/2009/06/spiros-doesnt-deserve-173rd-chance-shut.html
But I’ll sum up part of it and say we can’t be so tolerant that we tolerate intolerance. We’re not talking about second chances when there’s been 172 police responses to Spiro’s since 2008. The shooting was just the straw on the camel’s back. Spiro’s should be shut down for good.
I don’t know this is tough one…one thing is that their always seems to be a crowd right in front of the club. And know that sometimes for big show their are crowds in front of other clubs on red river but usually those people in a line hugging the wall. At spiros it seems like a clusterfuck every night thursday -saturday. I think people should be able to walk by your club on the sidewalk not the street and that almost never happens at spiros.
I really just not smart enough say if spiros should close down….. I think the city council should stop trying to cut the budget for apd and the fire department.
I am also scared that this will begin the sort of over enforcement that will make us miss the good old days on red river.
I don’t know either way this story is kind of heartbreaking no want’s to feel at risk when there out having fun.
Very well put, Guy From Austin. It is a heartbreaking situation.