Both clubs, Lava Lounge and EZ\u2019s, were magnets for complaints about unpermitted events and late-night crowds. The tensions surrounding both venues highlight a broader challenge for city officials in shutting down illegal nightclubs before they escalate into serious public safety threats.<\/p>\n
For community members who say they repeatedly raised alarms, the tragedy felt predictable.<\/p>\n
The day after the EZ\u2019s Lounge shooting, the neighbor who had complained previously about Lava Lounge emailed multiple city leaders, OPD, and media outlets, accusing the city and police of failing to hold the owner accountable.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe March 7, 2026, mass shooting at EZ\u2019s Lounge was not an unforeseeable event,\u201d they wrote. \u201cIt was the predictable outcome of allowing a known operator with a documented history of violent incidents, illegal nightclub activity, and public safety violations to simply reopen and continue operating.\u201d<\/p>\n
A pattern of complaints and warnings at Lava Lounge
\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/oaklandside.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/IMG_5900-311x600.jpg\")
Lava Lounge\u2019s Instagram profile as of April 10, 2026. Credit: Screenshot courtesy of Instagram<\/p>\n
Lava Lounge advertised itself on social media<\/a> as \u201cone of the best hookah lounges you\u2019ll ever go to.\u201d But in multiple complaints<\/a> filed with the city, neighbors said the lounge really functioned as an \u201cillegal nightclub\u201d and dance hall, operating until 5 or 6 a.m. on many weekends from 2023 to late 2024.<\/p>\n Neighbors said they regularly witnessed loud parties, fights, drug dealing, drunk driving, and other activity spilling onto the sidewalk and street.<\/p>\n Between July 2023 and September 2024, Oakland\u2019s Planning and Building Department received 16 complaints<\/a> about the venue. Records show Lava Lounge was reported for loud music, blight, and dumping garbage on neighboring properties. Neighbors also told the city they believed that Lava Lounge was selling alcohol and tobacco without required permits.<\/p>\n When one resident walked over in March 2024 to try to talk to the lounge\u2019s owner about these problems, they claimed bar customers threatened them. \u201cPeople in \u2026 line said they were going to kill me,\u201d the person alleged in a complaint<\/a> filed with the city. \u201cThey said [to] watch out, and after hearing me talk with the business owner about being their neighbor, they said they knew where I lived and to watch my back.\u201d<\/p>\n When building inspectors entered the property in April 2024, they found multiple violations<\/a>, including altered electrical systems and lights<\/a>, added walls, partitions, and platforms, and an illegal second-story addition.<\/p>\n The resident reported the nightclub to OPD and the city\u2019s code enforcement division multiple times, asking them to cite or shut down the business. But over the subsequent months, Lava Lounge continued operating after hours, and fights regularly broke out on the street, according to city records.<\/p>\n The resident accused city agencies of passing responsibility for resolving the problem onto others.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Oakland Police Department can only observe and document the illegal activity, while the Zoning Department claims it is a landlord issue,\u201d they wrote in an email to city leaders.<\/p>\n Lava Lounge was evicted from the building in November 2024, according to Jean Walsh, a spokesperson for the city. City staff conducted a final walk-through of the property in early December 2024 to verify Lava Lounge\u2019s ouster.<\/p>\n Not long after Lava Lounge shut down, another nightclub, EZ\u2019s Lounge, opened about a mile away in downtown Oakland. Downtown residents soon started reporting EZ\u2019s for similar problem activities, and on Aug. 20, 2025, city staff notified the owners<\/a> they were operating an \u201cunpermitted entertainment venue,\u201d according to city records.<\/p>\n Then, in the early morning hours of March 7 \u2014 past legal operating hours \u2014 gunfire erupted<\/a> inside the club, killing two and wounding five.<\/p>\n A resident who lives a block away, and who also spoke on condition of anonymity due to safety concerns, said he had repeatedly seen EZ\u2019s Lounge packed with patrons well after 2 a.m. in the weeks leading up to the shooting. The night of the incident, he saw at least one security guard outside, but no metal detectors.<\/p>\n The clubs\u2019 operator, Debas, who lives in Oakland, incorporated<\/a> Lava Lounge in 2023, according to records filed with the California Secretary of State. City business tax records<\/a> confirm that Debas opened EZ\u2019s Lounge in October 2025. In court records from a 2025 lawsuit about a business dispute, Debas also referred to himself as the owner of EZ\u2019s.<\/p>\n Records filed with the state Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control show that the liquor license associated with EZ\u2019s Lounge is held by Matador Worldwide, a company Debas incorporated in 2019. And Debas is also named on Lava Lounge\u2019s Instagram page<\/a>.<\/p>\n Debas did not respond to multiple attempts to contact him over email, phone, and social media.<\/p>\n The signage on EZ\u2019s Lounge facade was taken down last month after the shooting, and after Oakland sent the property owner, a Danville-based company, a cease and desist letter<\/a> for allowing EZ\u2019s Lounge to operate as an entertainment venue without permits.<\/p>\n Public records suggest city officials had long been aware of concerns tied to nightlife operations associated with Debas. But the two clubs illustrate the difficulty the city has in addressing entertainment venues that allow unpermitted activities.\u00a0<\/p>\n Years of complaints and slow enforcement<\/p>\n Photos and videos taken by a neighbor of Lava Lounge, and other records gleaned from social media, show pandemonium outside Lava Lounge on several occasions during the few years it was open.<\/p>\n In one video, recorded past 2 a.m. in October 2024, at least eight people are shoving one another and yelling in the middle of the street as others record the brawl on their phones. In another clip of the same incident, four Oakland police officers appear to chase after a person involved in the fight while police car sirens blare in the background.<\/p>\n The neighbor with concerns about Lava Lounge screen-recorded an Instagram video showing people fighting and fleeing from police outside the nightclub in October 2024.<\/p>\n Similar scenes played out on many nights, according to neighbors, with fights spilling into the street and crowds lingering into the early morning hours.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThere have been assaults, drunk driving, hit-and-run injury accidents, drug dealing, excessive noise, and lewd behavior from this business from 2 a.m. to 5 a.m. Friday and Saturday nights,\u201d one person wrote in a complaint in July 2024 to the Planning and Building Department.<\/p>\n As neighbors continued reporting the business to OPD and city leaders, the city issued numerous warnings and citations.<\/p>\n According to public records obtained by The Oaklandside, in February 2024, Oakland\u2019s Planning and Building Department sent the owner a letter<\/a> warning them of loud music and excessive noise from Lava Lounge.<\/p>\n The department sent another letter<\/a> in May of that year, citing Lava Lounge for lacking permits, having broken windows, and other violations following an inspection the week prior.<\/p>\n Over the next three months, the hookah lounge received three additional letters regarding follow-up inspections that found the business had failed to correct the violations cited in the May 2024 letter.<\/p>\n The club was fined a total of $1,755. It\u2019s unclear if Debas or anyone associated with the property paid the fines.<\/p>\n One local business leader, who also asked not to be named, said KONO business district community ambassadors tasked with cleaning the neighborhood and intervening in non-emergency situations had observed Lava Lounge patrons dumping empty liquor bottles and other garbage on the street. The following morning, the ambassadors would see heaps of trash on the sidewalk outside the business.<\/p>\n \u201cThey were expecting the ambassadors to pick up their trash, which is not their responsibility,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n In April 2023, the business district sent a letter to the owner of Lava Lounge, directing them to set up trash collection services with Waste Management. The business district never received a response.<\/p>\n Walsh said the city sent cease and desist letters to the Lava Lounge property owner in January and March 2024. In May of that year, the city sent the property owner another letter, declaring Lava Lounge a \u201cpublic nuisance.\u201d<\/p>\n On another night, in October 2024, the neighbor who\u2019d been trying to get the city\u2019s attention detailed an incident in which a crowd of at least 50 people spilled onto the streets in front of the venue. While the resident was observing the crowd, they saw a man and a woman enter the public section of their apartment complex\u2019s parking lot.<\/p>\n \u201cThe man grabbed a black gun from a bag the woman was carrying, while shouting at her about \u2018getting them,\u2019\u201d the neighbor wrote in an email to OPD and city officials.<\/p>\n The man with the gun remained in the parking lot and appeared to aim at a target. OPD officers who were conducting a traffic stop nearby then shone a flashlight on the man, which the resident said \u201caverted a potential tragedy.\u201d The man and the woman fled.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is just another night from Lava Lounge that has been operating illegally for over 15 months, functioning as a criminal organization with public signage,\u201d the neighbor wrote in his email to city and police department leaders. \u201cDespite its blatant disregard for the law, the City of Oakland has failed to penalize or shut it down.\u201d<\/p>\n Other emails obtained by The Oaklandside show an all-hands-on-deck effort by OPD, the Economic and Workforce Development Department, and residents to address the issues associated with Lava Lounge.<\/p>\n On one Friday afternoon in August 2024, the resident sent a social media advertisement for a late-night party at Lava Lounge to OPD and Ricardo Salas, a code enforcement officer with the city\u2019s Planning and Building Department.<\/p>\n \u201cI will be working tonight and will handle the best I can,\u201d replied Josiah Ladd, an OPD sergeant.<\/p>\n Lisa Ausmus, an OPD police captain at the time, told Ladd over email that she and Salas spoke to the owner of Lava Lounge, who said the club would not open that night.<\/p>\n But later, in the early morning hours of Saturday, the neighbor notified OPD and the code enforcement officer that they had seen a long line outside Lava Lounge\u2019s door past 2 a.m.<\/p>\n Two weeks later, the same resident asked Salas what it would take to shut down the lounge, adding that it was still promoting events on social media and hosting after-hours parties.<\/p>\n \u201cThe operators know they are on their way out and will try to make as much money as possible before vacating,\u201d Salas wrote.<\/p>\n Salas did not respond to an interview request.<\/p>\n Illegal nightclubs have been a persistent problem in Oakland<\/p>\n Unpermitted nightclubs and bars have been a long-standing issue in Oakland, sometimes with fatal consequences.<\/p>\n The 2016 Ghost Ship fire<\/a> erupted during an illegal warehouse party, killing 36 people, making it the deadliest fire in the city\u2019s history. In 2018, undercover OPD officers raided Music Cafe<\/a>, a karaoke bar in Chinatown that operated after-hours and where police say narcotics were sold, among other alleged illegal activities. And in July 2025, one person died after a shooting<\/a> inside an unlicensed club on 85th Avenue. Illegal casinos<\/a> are also a rampant problem in East Oakland\u2019s San Antonio and Fruitvale neighborhoods, according to police reports.<\/p>\n Lt. Gabriel Urquiza, commander of OPD\u2019s real-time operations center, said officers often face limitations when dealing with suspected after-hours venues, making it hard for them to intervene before situations escalate.<\/p>\n \u201cSomebody felt comfortable bringing a firearm into a venue downtown where there were dozens of police officers who don\u2019t feel they have the ability to address a lot of this stuff,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n After the March 7 shooting, the city contacted the landlord of EZ\u2019s Lounge. On March 10, Salas sent a cease and desist letter<\/a> to the building owner, warning that EZ\u2019s was operating as an unpermitted entertainment venue. On March 13, Salas followed up with another letter to the property owner, declaring EZ\u2019s Lounge a public nuisance due to documented unpermitted parties and illegal alcohol sales. (Attempts to contact the building owner were unsuccessful.)<\/p>\n Salas ordered the owner to pay a nearly $17,000 fine and to remove any weapons, drugs, and the tenant, EZ\u2019s Lounge, from the site. He added that OPD\u2019s Homicide Unit is investigating the venue for the March 7 shooting.<\/p>\n Ashleigh Kanat, director of the Economic and Workforce Development Department, said in a statement that the city is \u201cstrengthening enforcement\u201d and \u201cexpanding staffing\u201d to address unpermitted events and nightclubs.<\/p>\n “*” indicates required fields<\/p>\n \t![\"\"](\"https:\/\/oaklandside.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Screenshot-2026-04-10-at-1.33.52-PM-1-1600x261.png\")
One of several complaints against Lava Lounge filed with the city\u2019s code enforcement office.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/oaklandside.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Screenshot-2026-04-10-at-1.51.35-PM-1.png\")
In an Instagram story on July 6, 2024, Lava Lounge\u2019s operators showed off a long line outside the hookah lounge at 3:46 a.m.
\nEZ\u2019s Lounge opens \u2014 and tragedy strikes<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/oaklandside.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Screenshot-2026-04-10-at-1.59.34-PM-395x600.png\")
One of the city\u2019s code enforcement letters to Lava Lounge included photos inspectors took of unpermitted modifications made to the building. Credit: courtesy city of Oakland<\/p>\n