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The illegal speakeasy and hookah lounge near where a Philadelphia police officer was fatally shot<\/a> last month must shut down, a city judge ordered Wednesday. <\/p>\n On Aug. 16, the sidewalk outside the after-hours nightclub that was advertised as \u201cNipsey\u2019s\u201d on social media became the scene of the killing of 29-year-old Officer Alhassane Barry.<\/p>\n Barry and another man had been arguing inside the Elmwood Avenue property in Southwest Philadelphia before the confrontation spilled outside, where the man opened fire on Barry, killing him and injuring another man, according to investigators. <\/p>\n Immediately after the officer\u2019s death, questions arose over Nipsey\u2019s business practices. The property was not licensed to operate as a nightclub, city records show, and its owner had been handed a series of L&I violations in recent years. <\/p>\n District Attorney Larry Krasner, speaking after Barry\u2019s killing, vowed to shutter what he called a \u201cnuisance business,\u201d adding that investigators believe activity at Nipsey\u2019s may have been connected to another death this summer<\/a>. <\/p>\n The matter was settled Wednesday in Common Pleas Court, when Judge Christopher R. Hall issued an injunction barring the property\u2019s owner, Tran Yen, from conducting any commercial business there for one year. That includes any activity related to selling or offering alcohol, according to the ruling, which is enforceable by the Sheriff\u2019s Office and city police. <\/p>\n A spokesperson for the district attorney\u2019s office, Solomon Leach, said the decision \u201ceffectively shuts down this illegal speakeasy.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201c[W]hat we do know is that this establishment \u2014 and others like it \u2014 operated outside the law and was a problem waiting to happen,\u201d the spokesperson said after the ruling. <\/p>\n Thomas Kenney, a lawyer for the property\u2019s owner, Tran Yen, of Newark, Del., said his client was \u201cshocked as anyone else\u201d about Barry\u2019s killing. <\/p>\n \u201cWe are cooperating with the Commonwealth to make sure there are no further nuisances,\u201d he said. He declined to comment on the nature of the connection between Tran and those who operated Nipsey\u2019s. <\/p>\n Tran could not be reached for comment. <\/p>\n In 2021 and 2024, Tran was issued violation notices from the city Department of Licenses and Inspections, violations that were filed anew after Barry\u2019s death, city records show. <\/p>\n In addition to being cited for operating as a nightclub without proper permitting, the property was cited for using extension cords rather than permanent electrical wiring, storing unsecured gas containers, and having combustible materials in a rear lot. <\/p>\n Images investigators recovered from inside the lounge show patrons packed into the space amid brightly colored decorations and neon lights. <\/p>\n The violations carried $3,200 in fines. <\/p>\n Still, Krasner vowed to close Nipsey\u2019s through court action. <\/p>\n Wednesday\u2019s order to do that came as the DA\u2019s office continues to investigate the circumstances surrounding Barry\u2019s death \u2014 including the possibility that the shooting was in self-defense.<\/p>\n Investigators released images of the suspected shooter<\/a> and prosecutors are having ongoing conversations with the man and his lawyer and are in possession of a firearm they believe he used to shoot Barry<\/a>. <\/p>\n They are also interviewing witnesses and analyzing footage from multiple surveillance camera angles that show portions of the shooting. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Listen to article \u2022\u00a00:00 min The illegal speakeasy and hookah lounge near where a Philadelphia police officer was…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":277625,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[116297,69,71,70],"class_list":["post-277624","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-nipseys-hookah-lounge-philadelphia-police-officer-alhassane-barry","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-headlines","tag-philadelphia-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277624","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=277624"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277624\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/277625"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=277624"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=277624"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=277624"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}