DEARBORN — City officials are looking to revoke the liquor license of Nar Bar, following a heated shootout that occurred between customers outside the business on Saturday, September 17.

Officers responded to a call of shots fired at the bar, located on the 21900 block of Michigan Ave. When they arrived, the shooting was still ongoing. Three people were injured and two suspects fled the scene. They were eventually captured near Michigan Ave. and Gulley.

Ypsilanti residents Mario Amison, 29, and Allante Percy, 24, were both charged by the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office in the incident. The men were charged with three counts of assault with intent to murder, as well as feeing and eluding, carrying a concealed weapon and felony firearm.

Judge Mark Somers set a $1 million bond for both men, who would have to wear GPS tether if they post bond. They have scheduled probable cause conferences set at the 19th District Court for September 30.

The incident at Nar Bar is the latest in a string of outbreaks there. On Tuesday, September 21, City Council members discussed the incident extensively and are now considering revoking the business’ liquor license, calling the bar a “bad apple” in downtown Dearborn’s crowded bar scene.

Councilman Tom Tafelski expressed outrage that the city’s entire police squad had to be called to the scene. He noted that city officials have been aware of frequent problems occurring at the bar for months and doesn’t understand why a revocation hearing process didn’t occur sooner.

“When the shots rang out…every car was at one location,” Tafelski said. “At some point somebody is going to get killed there….it’s inexcusable that we don’t have a lid contained on this area.”

In a back and forth exchange with Police Chief Ron Haddad, Tafelski said the city should implement a “bar district” and have police officers stationed there at all times of the night.

Haddad said his officers do usually patrol the area, but that they could leave at any given time if there was an emergency occurring somewhere else in the city.

Tafelski suggested implementing a similar ordinance to one in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, where the police department bills businesses that require frequent police presence.

“This has been going on the whole summer,” Tafelski said. “If we have a bad behaving business, we can stick two or three cops out there and charge the business. And then the rest of the neighborhoods don’t have issues when something goes down.”

Councilman Mike Sareini applauded the police department’s quick response time to the incident. However, he supported Tafelski’s stance on implementing a bar district and allocating police officers there at all times. 

“There’s got to be a different outlook now,” Sareini said. “There’s a lot of new activity there.”

Council President Susan Dabaja encouraged residents to participate in the study session being held on September 28 for Nar Bar, as well as the revocation hearing occurring on October 17.

“Just to be clear, there is zero tolerance for that type of behavior in our city,”
Dabaja said. 

Nar Bar, which opened last year, would not be the first establishment in the area to undergo such scrutiny with the city for its rowdy crowds.

Earlier this year, Liv Lounge faced a liquor revocation hearing after the police department cited more than 20 incidents at the business that involved firearms discharges, sexual assaults and gang fights.

But before the city could move forward and revoke the bar’s liquor license, the owners sold their lease to the landlord of the building and closed their doors permanently.

At the time city officials worried the closure of the business would just be a temporary fix, fearing that the crowds would just relocate to neighboring businesses. 

The AANews contacted Najib Rizk, owner of the building occupied by Nar Bar, who said he would prefer to have an attorney comment on the incident. While Rizk is only the landlord of the building, his brother is the owner of the bar.  Rizk did stress that the shooting didn’t occur inside the business.

“They were customers at Nar Bar, but the shooting didn’t happen inside,” he said. “It didn’t happen on our property. It happened in a city-owned parking lot and it has nothing to do with the business.”