ERICJOHNSON
Magic City Tragedy Venue unlicensed at time of shooting
When investigators responded to a crashed vehicle near the intersection of Lumpkin Road and Mike Padgett Highway early on Monday, January 16, they found the body of Kyle Austin Royal, 16, in the back seat. He had been shot in the head and investigators traced the car back to Magic City, a venue in the 3200 block of Mike Padgett Highway. Investigators think he had been shot while the vehicle was leaving Magic City at a high rate of speed. While Magic City owner Patrick Walton is reportedly denying that any shots were fired on his property, what’s clear is that Walton is facing a lot of trouble. According to License and Inspection Development Manager Rob Sherman, Walton was knowingly operating Magic City without a business license. Magic City was approved by the commission as a dance hall in October, but the license was revoked in mid December when the Fire Department was brought to the location during a large party where people were parking along Mike
Padgett Highway. “Because it was not what they thought it was, the fire department
asked us to pull the license and they pulled the certificate of occupancy that they issued,” Sherman said. “So last year the license was rescinded and he doesn’t have a license for any activity over there at this time.” According to Sherman, the fire department had approved a certificate of occupancy for a mercantile as opposed to a place of assembly. In order to host a gathering of people the way Magic City apparently was, the location would need to be approved as a place of assembly.
Sherman further stated that Walton was definitely notified that Magic City was no longer licensed for operation. “He was notified and then a letter was physically put on the table in front of him,” Sherman says. “And we’ve had conversations with him since back in December when he had the problem and his license was pulled.” So there is no possibly he couldn’t have known his license had been revoked? “Absolutely not,” Sherman said.
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