Metro police padlock 3000 Bar Nashville, call it a public nuisance

Jun 07, 2023

In a rare action, Metro Nashville Police officers on Friday raided and padlocked a local bar after years of public nuisance complaints and calls for fights, shootings and assaults.

Metro Police in a statement said 3000 Bar Nashville, 1516-A Demonbreun St., was declared a public nuisance in a temporary injunction and padlocking order issued by a criminal court judge.

Between April 2021 and March 2023, officers responded to more than 100 calls to the bar and surrounding area for assaults, fights, shootings, vehicle burglaries and other incidents.

In April 2021, two people were shot, including one fatally outside in the 1500 block of Demonbreun Street, police said. In March 2022, a bullet hit a woman inside her apartment across the street when someone arguing outside the bar fired a gunshot into the air.

Police said the Tennessee Alcoholic Beverage Commission following a December 2022 shooting suspended the establishment's liquor license for failing to provide adequate security. Detectives later determined the bar permitted unlicensed security guards to carry weapons, police said.

Police said "numerous business owners and property managers" expressed concerns to law enforcement about the establishment. Police said representatives of 3000 Bar Nashville attended meetings with other Demonbreun Street businesses in 2021 and 2022 in which police gave guidance on safety and mitigating criminal activity in the area, but the problems continued.

"The MNPD & District Attorney's Office consider a padlocking order to be a last resort when businesses blatantly promote behavior that jeopardizes Nashville's citizens," police said.

The judge's order prohibits the business operator from entering the premises until a hearing is held on April 12. Police have issued felony warrants for six people connected to the bar, including four security guards they accused of not being licensed.