Councilwoman: Social club ‘closed permanently’ after fatal shooting
BRIDGEPORT — Councilwoman Eneida Martinez is known for condemning the gun violence that plagues her East End district and for targeting and helping shutter local businesses considered trouble spots.
Last year, she organized rallies against Sunshine Deli, which city health officials eventually put out of operation.
Then early Sunday, a 21-yearold man was shot inside the social club Martinez manages, Keystone at 1798 Barnum Ave. Police said the young man stumbled outside, was hit by a fleeing car and died from his injuries at Bridgeport Hospital.
Suddenly Martinez was facing public questions and outrage on social media about what happened and being pressured to close.
“Shut it down,” state Sen. Marilyn Moore wrote on Facebook.
On Tuesday morning, Martinez told the Connecticut Post that Keystone was “officially done.”
“Effective today, Keystone will no longer be in business,” Martinez said. “I have to stand by my integrity and my history on violence in the community. ... I have fought so long in the East End against violence such as this. Just because it’s an establishment I have ties to doesn’t make a difference. Keystone is closed permanently.”
Keystone was originally a strip club. Martinez has been running it for several months and often promoted Keystone on her Facebook page. The facility began operating as a non-adult entertainment, bring-your-own-alcohol venue this summer after COVID-19 pandemic restrictions shuttered bars.
The building, however, is owned by Gus Curcio, who served 27 years in prison beginning in the 1980s for extortion and loan sharking convictions. Curcio declined comment but Martinez said they had spoken and “there will be signs going up that the place is closed for business.”
Martinez said Sunday’s homicide was also personal for her — she knows victim Nyair Nixon’s f amily and lives in the same East End housing cooperative as his grandmother, Jackie Scott.
“I can see her porch from my porch,” Martinez said. “It’s just ver y hard on me.”
But an angr y Scott in an inter view Tuesday morning said Nixon’s f amily was ver y upset with Martinez. She alleged Martinez should have, but did not, immediately phone them when the young man was shot.
“I see you on the news reaching out to ever yone else’s f amily (when there is a shooting in Bridgeport) and you can’t reach out to us?” Scott said of Martinez. “All she kept saying is, ‘Jackie, I’m sorr y. I didn’t know what to say.’ ”
Martinez in her inter view said she had been unaware Nixon was at Keystone or the victim until his mother phoned her about an hour later.
“I did speak with the grandmother and shared the same thing with her,” Martinez said. “She said she was angr y because she thought I knew. I did not know Nyair was the victim until the mother called me asking for answers to what happened to her son.”
Martinez shed little light on what transpired at Keystone. She admitted she was working there Sunday but “was not in the vicinity of the incident.”
She said the club had security staff, and did not know how someone was able to enter with a firearm.
“What I can tell you is we are in full cooperation with the police and anything they ask of us we are providing to them,” Martinez said.
Martinez on Tuesday also addressed confusion about the police department’s description of Keystone as a “bar.” She insisted it was a social club operating in compliance with statewide COVID-19 rules, meaning patrons not only had to bring their own alcohol, but that food must also be served on premises — which Martinez said they had on site.
Earlier this summer the city’s health department temporary shuttered Keystone due to crowding issues. State and health officials had previously reduced building capacities to try to stop the spread of the coronavirus.
In an interview in August, Bridgeport Health Director Lisa Morrissey said, “During one of the routine checks they found there was a large gathering. And when our enforcement officer went inside there was some question as to whether or not they should be open or what their business entity type was. ... If they were operating as a bar, they cannot be open.”
Martinez had said at the time — and Morrissey confirmed — that was when Keystone switched from a strip club to a social club.
While room capacity limits remain in effect, according to the police, officers encountered “a large hostile crowd” following Sunday’s shooting, requiring support from the neighboring Stratford’s police department.
Martinez admitted Keystone was busy Sunday night and she was not sure how many people were inside. She also owns a soul food restaurant and had previously criticized the state for being too slow to allow certain businesses to reopen during the pandemic and challenged Mayor Joe Ganim’s effort to establish a COVID-related curfew.
Martinez is normally very active on Facebook and admitted Tuesday she took her page down because of all of the criticism and accusations aimed at her over Keystone and Nixon’s death.
“People are grieving. They’re emotional. They’re hurt. I get it. I understand as a mother. I’m a mother before anything else, forget about manager of a club,” Martinez said.
She added: “All I can do is apologize on the tragedy. They want to fault me for something that goes beyond my control.”