Property where New Year’s Eve homicide happened didn’t have proper license to host party
Editor’s note: This video is taken from previous footage Referenced in this article.
AUSTIN (KXAN) — The business owner who rented his venue to party organizers holding a New Year’s Eve event where an 18-year-old was shot and killed did not have the necessary permits to allow a party there, according to Austin Development Services (DSD).
“Our records do not indicate that all necessary City permits were obtained for this operation,” a DSD spokesperson told KXAN.
Police, 7801 N. Lamar Blvd. intervened at the Austin Event Center located at. He found 18-year-old Isaiah Atkinson with gunshot wounds around 1:30 a.m. on Jan. 1 near U.S. Highway 183. Atkinson was pronounced dead around 01:45 at night.
APD arrested 19-year-old Alton Williams III on murder charges in connection with this case.
According to Williams’ arrest affidavit, a witness identified as JH said he and Williams were having problems with a woman. JH said Williams approached him with a group of people, said “let’s go outside” and pulled out a gun. Atkinson was with JH at the time.
JH told police that he “moved out of the way when he saw the gun, heard 2-3 gunshots and saw it.” [Atkinson] on the ground.”
Officers with the U.S. Marshals Lone Star Fugitive Task Force arrested Williams this week.
A GoFundMe page for Atkinson states that he is “truly loved.”
The business owner did not have a ‘site usage certificate’
The city said there is no current certificate of occupancy for the Austin Events Center. These documents recognize that a building is safe and suitable for whatever purpose the owner has.
City records show the space, a suite inside a shopping center, was previously authorized for retail use. In 2016, the city approved a proposal to allow indoor entertainment use, but the business owner did not complete the process to formalize it, DSD said.
KXAN spoke with business owner Miriam Hernandez the afternoon after the shooting.
“I’m really sorry about what happened, but it wasn’t our thing,” he said. Hernandez explained that he rented the space to party organizers.
Hernandez told KXAN on Friday that he did not want to talk to any reporters on the phone and hung up when we explained what we learned about the field’s permits.
The party was organized by Overly Turnt Productions and advertised on Instagram. It promised “good drinks, good energy and crazy vibes all night long” and flyers and message boards addressed the topic of “wasting away”.
The group does not appear to have a public website, email address or phone number. KXAN reporters communicate with organizers via Instagram messages.
The group has not yet responded to our questions about how the organizers obtained a license to distribute alcohol. However, Overly Turnt Productions told KXAN that “the majority of the crowd was over 18” and that alcohol was only served to people over 21. The group said it did not sell the alcohol it provided but did not provide clarity on the process for distributing alcohol at the event.
The company also said it did not have a TABC license because “[alcohol] “It wasn’t sold.” A cover charge was announced and a TABC spokesperson said it would qualify as a “sale” and therefore require TABC permission.
Party organizers said they held the event to “show Austin’s young adults that you can party and be safe” and offered their condolences to Atkinson’s loved ones. They also said that they had never encountered such an extreme incident before.
The Austin Police Department said it was working with law enforcement as part of this investigation, and detectives said the party organizers were cooperating with the investigation.
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