River North mass shooting: City closes property with history of violence

CHICAGO (WGN) — The city has temporarily shut down a business tied to Wednesday night’s mass shooting in River North, the second time a business at the address has been closed following violence.

Artis Restaurant and Lounge opened in April under new ownership, but one person was killed and three others were wounded in a 2022 shooting outside what was then known as Hush nightclub. Hush was shut down.

“I have put in place a 4 a.m. liquor license moratorium and a moratorium on tavern licenses, meaning you can’t get those in my ward,” Ald. Brendan Reilly (42nd Ward) said. “We thought that when we revoked the licenses from Hush nightclub this would be the end of these types of incidents at this location.”

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Shots were fired from a dark-colored vehicle passing by the business, on the 300 block of West Chicago Avenue, shortly after 11 p.m. Wednesday. Police said they found two different types of shell casings, indicating there may have been more than one shooter. Four people were killed and another 14 were injured.

Reilly said Artis Restaurant and Lounge had only a ‘BYOB’ license since its April opening, with its liquor license pending with the city.

“Ironically, some of the conditions of that liquor license that was pending were things like ‘don’t use promoters’ and ‘don’t offer hard liquor bottle service,’ and it’s our understanding both of those things happened last night at this venue,” Reilly said.

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Owner Chef Brandi Artis once competed on a Food Network show. She and the team released a statement, saying: “Artis was created as a safe space. A space where Black, Brown, Queer, and allied communities could gather, be celebrated, and feel at home in River North. We’ve always led with that mission. And what happened last night disrupted it in the most painful way.”

Reilly said the city has closed the restaurant temporarily, and he’s working to make it permanent. Meanwhile, he said he’s also pushing City Council to take a closer look at ‘BYOB’ licenses.

“That is a gaping loophole in our code that allows restaurants, nail salons, hair salons to literally transform themselves into nightclub venues without any proper liquor licensing,” he said. “We need to end that.”