'Dangerous': Hookah lounge warning from Austin father whose daughter was shot
AUSTIN, Texas - A woman is recovering after being shot outside a hookah lounge in North Austin about a week ago. Her father is warning others about the "dangerous establishment." Employees of The Ghost Lounge said it’s a safe place.
"My daughter is fighting, and I’m going to fight," said Azia Moore’s father Tyree Moore. "Every time they open its shots fired."
Employees of the business said he was blaming the wrong people.
"In any atmosphere where you have a hookah lounge, a nightclub, a social setting, you can't control how people come out and what they are, what their intentions are. You can only control the vibe and the energy that you put out," The Ghost Lounge Promoter Lorenzo Hill said.
The Ghost Hookah Lounge
Tyree Moore said his 22-year-old daughter, Azia, was shot in the parking lot of The Ghost Lounge early Sunday morning, November 26.
"She said she heard shots, and she took off running, and then she just fell to the ground. She tried to get up, and she couldn’t feel her legs," Moore said.
She’s now recovering after spending about a week in the hospital.
"Sitting next to her in the hospital, I can’t do anything, just watch the pain in her eye," Moore said.
Moore said he wants to do something and make sure someone is held responsible.
"There’s got to be some consequences," Moore said.
For the shooters, Moore said, "I want the dudes that shot their guns that night, I want y’all to be a man, be strong, own it, own it."
Azia, 22, is in the hospital after being shot outside of The Ghost Hookah Lounge in North Austin.
He also blamed the owners of The Ghost Lounge.
"When you come here, just know you’re taking a chance that you might die," Moore said.
The Ghost Lounge employees said they’re doing their job.
"Sometimes everybody's not going to get along with everybody, you can't help that. The only thing you can do is to do what we are supposed to do is to have security and to make sure that we are trying to keep everybody safe," Hill said.
"It's just always a great place here to be, like there's never any problems," The Ghost Lounge DJ Egyptt Terry said.
Moore said there are problems.
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"If something steady occurs at your place, you know what I’m talking about, and you do nothing about it, in some type of what you’re facilitating it," Moore said.
The landlords agree, and in court documents, they state the tenants operating The Ghost Lounge are allowing activity that violates their lease. They filed to evict them earlier this year. The landlord’s attorney said they’re doing their best to make sure that happens.
"For someone to put in the media that it's a pending anything, we just need to let the court systems deal with that. I feel very comfortable that whatever happens, the owners have our best interests at heart," Hill said.
When FOX 7 asked the Austin Police Department how many calls for service they'd received for The Ghost Lounge, they said file a Public Information Request. FOX 7 Austin has, and will update the story when the numbers come in.