Large fight at Le Souk Hookah Lounge leads to investigation into security at lounge

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WGGB/WSHM) - Springfield city leaders call the incident ‘inexcusable’ and say they are outraged following an incident that ended with a person injured and gunshots exchanged. Now, they want to make sure the proper steps are taken to make sure something like this won’t happen again.

It was around 9 p.m. on September 3 when Springfield Police were called to Le Souk Hookah Lounge for reports of a large fight.

When they arrived at the Worthington Street bar, they found a hectic scene, with fights happening both inside and outside the bar…leaving one person injured after getting hit in the head with a bottle.

According to the Springfield police department, the fight grew in size and quickly spilled outside the establishment.

“There were two groups that were pretty involved in fighting each other inside and outside. There was a lack of cooperation between those involved in the disturbance. Once the officers arrived, there was an issue outside where gunfire was exchanged between the two groups fighting. So inside it became problematic quickly,” said Walsh.

The police department’s public information officer, Ryan Walsh told us police received the call after the club’s staff heard those gunshots.

Now, the Springfield License Commission has concerns about some of the establishment’s security measures. During their meeting last night, committee members said managers and staff could have done more to prevent the problem from escalating.

Now, they’re looking ahead to see what steps they’ll take to investigate this incident and how to prevent something like this from happening again.

“This is quite a severe problem. so severe I think we need to go directly to a final hearing on this and skip the pre-hearing process. because it’s amazing that someone didn’t get killed, absolutely amazing with all those bullets flying everywhere,” said Peter Sygnator of the Springfield License Commission.

Other city leaders agreed voting unanimously to bring the violation to a final hearing, which is scheduled for September 27.

In the meantime, the commission will work to gather and review security footage and also make sure witnesses are available to attend that hearing.

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