Rockstarz Bar in Garden City closes months after New Year's Day shooting in parking lot
GARDEN CITY, Mich. (FOX 2) - Months after a shooting outside Rockstarz in Garden City, the bar has closed, citing rumors about the establishment stemming from that shooting.
Early Jan. 1, two people were shot in the parking lot of the karaoke bar on Ford Road during a dispute over a parking spot after the bar closed.
What they're saying:
"I felt the community needed an explanation – what is going on at Rockstarz, our decision to close, and we wanted you to hear it from me, and not some of the people who will hear this message who spread lies, hate, and ultimately led to our decision," owner Greg Wier said in a video announcing the closure on Tuesday.
The bar, which started as Rockstarz in the early 2000s, recently underwent a rebranding back to its roots last year after changing to Renegades during the Covid pandemic.
"For 17 years, this place meant something special to us," Wier said.
Wier said rumors about problems at the bar being shared after the shooting led to closure after all those years.
"Something completely out of our control, but what followed was unimaginable," he said. "People who weren't there started talking, stories got twisted, rumors and lies spread like facts."
Wier said people online said the shooting started inside and accused bartenders of overserving.
Security footage of the shooting showed that it happened in the parking lot of Rockstarz after the victims were blocking a parking spot that the suspect was trying to back into.
In Wier's video, he also showed photos of comments and reviews that claimed the bar had problems before the shooting, accusations he maintains are untrue.
Rockstarz New Year's shooting
Brian Lindsay, a 30-year-old Livonia man, is facing numerous felony charges after the shooting that wounded two people early New Year's Day.
Police were called to the bar on Ford Road around 4:15 a.m. Jan. 1 after a 55-year-old man and his 22-year-old son, both from Livonia, were found with gunshot wounds in the parking lot. They suffered critical injuries, and were taken to hospitals for treatment.
According to police, a fight led to Lindsay allegedly shooting the older man in the head and the younger man in the chest before fleeing.
Lindsay turned himself into police the next day.
Lindsay's attorney has argued that the shooting was self-defense.
He is currently awaiting trial, which is scheduled to begin in June.
The Source: A video from the owner of Rockstarz and previous reporting was used to write this story.
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