NBC 17 interview on Club Envy

I was interviewed by NBC 17 on an East Raleigh club with a troubled history. Club Envy was the scene of two shootings early Monday morning.

My interview ran during last evening’s news and the story can be found here.

Thanks to Justin Moss of NBC 17 for the great reporting!

After a shooting at Envy nightclub in Raleigh on Monday, there are growing calls for the business to be shut down.

“The neighbors have put up with this for years and they’ve had enough,” said Mark Turner, Chair of the Raleigh’s East Citizens Advisory Council.

Turner said neighbors have complained about the trash and violence around the nightclub. Early Monday, two people were shot and injured in the club’s parking lot.

“I’d like to see the club go away,” Turner said. “When you’re dealing with shootings and stabbings, that’s not the kind of stuff you want in your neighborhood.”

A Durham man was fatally shot in the club’s parking lot in 2007 when the business was called Black Tie.

Police reports show in the last year and a half, police have been called to the club’s address more than 200 times. However, some of those calls were for minor reports like traffic violations, while some reports happened when the club was not open.

However, there are serious reports listed like rape, robbery, stabbings and shootings.

WakeMed CEO Bill Atkinson said a driveby shooting last year had bullets hitting the hospital’s campus across the street from the club.

“It’s been a phenomenal problem. It’s a tremendous public health problem,” he said. “This is a place that needs to go, and go quickly.”

Envy’s owner Ben Becker said they are working with the citizens advisory council and talking with them about issues.

In an e-mail, he also said “there have been isolated events at our location, but Envy prides itself in going above and beyond to safeguard our guests. We must do our part towards the prevention of violence, intervention and enforcement to help our community become a safer place for all.”

Raleigh City Councilor James West, who represents that area, said shutting the club down is one option. West said the club has been an issue for years.

“It seems as though every time we try to go work with them, something else pops up that causes another problem,” he said. “We have to do something.”

A Raleigh Police Department spokesman said they are concerned about the incidents.

City Attorney Thomas McCormick said he would not comment on any possible actions against the club.

He did say that in general a business could be shut down by being taken to court, or their license could be taken away by the ABC Commission.