Lincoln hookah bar's liquor license suspended after shooting, repeated security issues (2024)

The Nebraska Liquor Control Commission voted Tuesday to suspend the Royal Hookah Bar & Lounge's liquor license for 60 days following several security issues at the bar, including the fatal shooting of a 32-year-old man in April by a security guard.

The commission also placed a mandatory closing time of 1 a.m. on the bar, which will only be able to sell its hookah products during the suspension. The area around the bar will also be monitored during operating hours and any future violations will result in another hearing, according to the commission.

"This is one of the biggest (suspensions) I have seen," said Hobert Rupe, executive director of the commission.

They say three security guards working at the bar attempted to intervene and that Little, or someone else in his group, grabbed a baton from one of them. The altercation spilled outside, and a skirmish ensued as the guards tried to retrieve the baton.

A 24-year-old security guard fired four shots, hitting Little in the arm and upper chest. He was taken to a local hospital, where he died from his injuries.

Police haven't identified the man who fired the shots or the Omaha-based private security company he worked for.

The fatal shooting was the latest incident in a string of crowd control and other issues at the hookah bar.

Since 2022, the location has had 36 calls of service, including Little's death and 15 instances of a disturbance, according to LPD records.

In January, the Nebraska Liquor Control Commission added a condition to the bar's license that there could be no violations for one year from the date ordered.

The condition was added after a situation in October when a crowd of people tried to force their way into the establishment during a high-capacity night. The Lincoln Police Department had to be called to help regain order.

Jamil Khoudeida, the owner of the bar, was at Tuesday's hearing and said the bar had cut ties with the security company that was being used the night of Little's shooting — the second security company the bar had used since October.

Khoudeida's attorney Matt Kosmicki said the business will no longer work with armed security guards and will instead employ its own security guard on staff.

"They are looking to make improvements to their business practices downtown," Kosmicki said.

The security guard who shot Little was armed with multiple guns. From video footage obtained by the Journal Star, the guard dropped one of the guns during a fight with another man, then shot Little as he reached to the ground.

Lincoln Police and the Lancaster County Attorney's Office have said that DNA consistent with Little was found on the trigger guard and slide area of the gun.

Khoudeida told the commission that the security company had told him they had "Omaha security experience." He was not sure if they had any other training.

"I trusted them," Khoudeida said. "I did not know he had that many guns."

Khoudeida did know they were armed every time they worked at the bar, however, and said the bar had input into how they operated at the venue.

The establishment was an outlier compared to the rest of Lincoln's downtown bar scene, where most security staff is either not armed or armed with non-lethal weapons.

LPD alcohol investigator Scott Parker testified at Tuesday's hearing, saying he did not know of another venue in Lincoln with armed security.

After the shooting, Khoudeida voluntarily implemented new hours at the bar that are similar to other bars along O Street that close at 2 a.m.

But the commission's ruling will force them to roll that closing time back even further.

Prior to the shooting, the bar would routinely stay open past 2 a.m. for customers to purchase and consume hookah products after they stopped selling alcohol.

Aaron Baney, an LPD officer who is assigned to patrol that stretch of O Street, said during Tuesday's hearing that most of the calls to the Royal Hookah Bar & Lounge were after 2 a.m.

Shannon Nyhoff, the legal enforcement administrator for the commission, says she does not remember a security staff member killing someone in the past 10 years.

In August 2023, a security guard at a different bar was found to have used a baseball bat on a patron excessively and that bar had its liquor license suspended for 25 days.

Earlier this year, another bar was handed a 25-day suspension after security used mace on a patron.

Nyhoff also cited a couple of 2020 cases where establishments had crowd control and security issues that resulted in their licenses being given up or denied.

"You can implement any system you want, but it depends how well-trained your employees are," Baney said.