x
Breaking News
More () »

Checkmate Bar and Grill shut down following shooting

A man is in critical condition after he was shot outside of Checkmate Bar and Grill in Buffalo's Lovejoy neighborhood.

BUFFALO, N.Y. — Checkmate Bar and Grill has been temporarily shut down following a shooting that left one man in critical condition after he was shot outside of a bar in the city's Lovejoy neighborhood Saturday morning.

It happened just before 3 a.m. on East Lovejoy Street near Ideal Street.

Buffalo Police say there was some sort of disturbance involving a number of people inside Checkmate Bar and Grill. The incident continued outside where the man was shot.

The 32-year-old Buffalo man was taken to Erie County Medical Center.

Since, the City of Buffalo and the Buffalo Police Department temporality shut down Checkmate Bar and Grill for the remainder of the weekend, according to Spokesperson Mike DeGeorge.

Checkmate is no stranger to problems: The State liquor authority handed the bar a warning in May, according to the attorney who used to represent them. The ongoing disturbances then led to a petition to shut them down, which 2 on Your Side reported on last September.

Lovejoy District Common Council member Richard Fontana says he's asked the city to keep the bar closed until there's a hearing. Bar owners have voluntarily closed Checkmate for the weekend, but Fontana wants it closed longer.

"I was on the phone with the Mayor and the Police Commissioner Acting, and both agreed it should be shut down until such time we can all get together and have a meeting on the topic,” Fontana said.

Fontana felt the place needed to clean up its act or get out back in September, when Channel 2 reported on the petition, and he continues to feel that way.

"There are other bars on this Lovejoy strip that have been there for 20 to 25 years; they haven't had a shooting,” Fontana said Saturday afternoon. “But this place has had now two essentially: One occurred with an individual leaving the bar. He was followed and then shot. Now, we have violence spilling out onto our Lovejoy streets, and then shots being fired into people's fences and houses.”

There appeared to be no one at Checkmate when Channel 2 stopped by Saturday evening.

Fontana said Checkmate acts too much like a club, when all residents want is a neighborhood corner bar.

"We've fought too hard. We put in over $28 million into this business strip through my administration and the Mayor over the last five years, and that $28 million is not going to be wasted on some little bar,” he said.

Anyone with information regarding the shooting is asked to call or text the Buffalo Police confidential tip line at (716) 847-2255.

Before You Leave, Check This Out