Owner of troubled Mullins nightclub says business was unfairly shutdown

The owner of Living Room Nightclub in Mullins, Cynthia Williams, said her business is not a public nuisance, and she plans to fight a judge's order to temporarily shut it down.

SC Circuit Court Judge William Seales granted the City of Mullins a temporary injunction during a hearing last week to shut down the nightclub, according to Captain Joe Graham with Mullins police.

Twelfth Circuit Solicitor Ed Clements said he filed the petition for a temporary injunction in January on behalf of the City of Mullins as a special prosecutor.

The petition says, "Since October 2013 there have been three shootings at the Living Room Club includingthe murder of Keith Anthony Broome on New Year's Eve of 2015. In addition, the Living Room Club has been the source of numerous assaults and thefts. On a regular basis, the police are called to the Living Room Club for loud noise and disturbances of the peace. On several occasions police officers have witnessed the presence of unlawful controlled substances and drug paraphernalia in the Living Room and on its premises."

According to the petition, "The owners and employers of the Living Room Club do not cooperate with police when we are investigating a crime which either occurred in the Club or in the parking lot. Members of the community are intimidated by the Living Room Club's owners and are reluctant to testify as to crimes which occur in the Club."

Williams said whenever there are problems at the club, her employees always call police. She added they cooperate with officers as best they can with the information they have.

She believes her nightclub was shut down due to things beyond her control and disagrees with the number of shootings police have attributed to problems at her club.

"They're really trying to make it a lot worse than what it is. They're saying three shootings," said Williams. She went on to say while Broome was killed at the club, the other shootings were drive by shootings "where somebody rode by and shot at the building, and they're saying it like there was another shooting at this location."

"Murders happen every day every where. I've heard of cases where people have been killed in courtrooms. People have been killed at grocery stores, malls, convenience stores, the location. How can the Living Room murder anybody? That's senseless," she added.

Williams said police have unfairly targeted her business for years, and she said the claims in the petition to close it down are false.

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Owner of troubled Mullins nightclub says business was unfairly shutdown