Shooting at East Side Penthouse Club

UPDATED: A shooting took place outside the new "Penthouse RI" Club on the East Side of Providence early Saturday morning -- resulting in its temporary closure following a Saturday hearing at City Hall to address the incident.

According to reports, five shell casings from .40 caliber gun were found on the scene following the shooting. (See more on the incident below).

GoLocalProv was first to report on the club in October, noting the new nightclub features dancers and stripper poles in one of the most historic areas of Providence, above the Mile and a Quarter restaurant which was previously occupied by the controversial Loft club. As GoLocal reported:

The new club is located close to one of Providence’s top Italian restaurants, Bacaro, right next to upscale realtor Lila Delman, and literally across the street from the new innovation center I-195 corridor. The historic building is owned by a company controlled by Andrew Mitrelis. He and his family also own Cafe Paragon, Andreas, and the now-closed Mile and a Quarter.

Latest at Penthouse

Community activist Sharon Steele -- who has spoken out about the club operating in a mixed commercial and residential neighborhood -- relayed the events, following the emergency meeting at City Hall.

"I heard about the shooting around 10 a.m. (Saturday morning)," said Steele. "Someone from the Plantations [apartment complex] got in touch with me. I first got the heads up about the meeting at City Hall from GoLocal."

Steele noted who was at the emergency hearing, what took place -- and how the shooting was recounted.

"From the License Board, it was Juan Pichardo, [Luis] Peralta, and Delia [Rodriguez-Masjoan]. No other committee members," said Steele. "And no stenographer."

Steele noted that from the city, Lou DeSimone, Mario Marone, Police Chief Hugh Clements, Sergeant David Tejada, and license administrator Heather Kilkenny -- but no representatives from the club.

"Mario questioned Tejada about the incident," said Steele. "It was when the club got out, around 2:14 a.m. There were five officers already there -- two on detail, and my guess is they called in for the others to help disperse the crowd."

"In the next five minutes, witnesses say there were five blasts," said Steele. "They issued a subpoena for the video footage at the hearing. Tejada was asked if he saw the video, and he said no."

"They issued an emergency closure for 72 hours -- which takes us into Tuesday, when the continuation of the previous show-cause hearing was scheduled to take place already," said Steele.

Club Denies the shooting is related to their customers

Kazeem Adediran, Floor Manager of the Penthouse tells GoLocal that his club had nothing to do with the shots fired on Saturday morning.

“The shots were not at our location — we are located at 334 South Water Street and the shots were fired at 385 South Main Street,” said Adediran. He said there was an illegal rave being operated around the corner.

“No one from our club was involved — we were closed and cleared at 1:45 AM and the police report said the shots were fired at 2:14 AM,” added Adediran.

In addition, he says the club had nine security officers and a Providence Police officer on as a detail officer. There were to be two detail officers, but one did not show up.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Article was updated at 7:30 PM on Monday.

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