Lawsuit: Negligence by hookah bar owners created ‘public nuisance’

It was filed by the parents of a McKeesport woman who was fatally shot June 2.

The parents of a 28-yearold woman killed in a shooting at a Penn Hills hookah bar sued the owner of the property Thursday, claiming they should have known the bar was “a public nuisance” prone to gun violence.

Two or more people fired seven to 10 gunshots at Ballers Hookah Lounge & Cigar Bar on Laketon Road shortly before 3 a.m. June 2, Allegheny County Police said. Authorities made their first arrest in the shooting July 1.

Stephanie Stuart, 28, of McKeesport was found dead inside the club. She was shot in the head.

Another patron — Nathaniel Smiley, 44, of Pittsburgh — also was shot in the head and died that night after arguing with an armed security guard at the establishment, authorities have said.

In the lawsuit filed in the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas, Stuart family attorney Anthony Giannetti said Penn Hills police were dispatched to the hookah bar for two separate shootings in the weeks before Stuart was killed.

TribLive could not verify that information. Penn Hills police Chief Ronald Como didn’t respond to a phone call or email this week seeking comment.

“Defendants were actually aware or should have known of these two prior shootings, and of the danger of gun violence posed to patrons by the continued operation of the public nuisance,” Giannetti wrote in the lawsuit. “Despite this knowledge, defendants took no reasonable actions to abate the public nuisance or ensure the safety of patrons at Ballers.”

Stuart’s parents, Christina and Steven, are seeking damages in excess of $50,000, including money and salary Stuart would have earned had she not been killed.

Stuart was an innocent bystander who didn’t know Smiley or the security guard, Stuart’s family said in the lawsuit.

In total, four men and three women were injured in the shooting, police said. Authorities have not named those injured in the shooting.

Those behind the business — including the owner of the building housing the bar — also created a “public nuisance” since they knew the bar didn’t have a liquor license and operated as a strip club with nude models, the lawsuit claimed.

Those two elements violate state laws and township ordinances, the lawsuit said. The bar had advertised itself as a strip club on Facebook, according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit alleges two counts of negligence and one count each of wrongful death and survival action.

The bar, which sits near Frankstown Road, is located in what has long been known as the Laketon Professional Building 2.

A limited liability corporation, Bucci Ventura Mullen, purchased that building for $40,000 on Nov. 15, 2022, Allegheny County property records show. The site had been owned since 1959 by Parkway Associates Inc.

The corporation has not replied to numerous emails and phone calls seeking comment.

The lawsuit also names as a defendant Berkshire Hathaway Home Services, which Giannetti said manages the building. The company did not respond this week to an online inquiry.

Allegheny County Police estimated between 50 and 100 people were inside the hookah bar that night. The bar has outdoor cameras, but police said no videos show the shooting.

Police have called Ballers an “after-hours establishment,” which typically would have been busy after 1 a.m.

The new lawsuit maintains that Stuart was an innocent bystander when Smiley started arguing with Chaz Jackson, an armed security guard at the bar.

Allegheny County Police on July 1 arrested Jackson, 42, of Pittsburgh in connection with Stuart’s death. His defense attorney maintained at a Friday hearing that Jackson’s gun accidentally discharged inside the establishment.

Jackson is facing multiple charges including homicide, aggravated assault and recklessly endangering another person.

Jackson remained in the Allegheny County Jail this week. His defense attorneys argued in court Friday, during a preliminary hearing, that his gun accidentally discharged. Prosecutors have rejected that argument.

The incident remains under investigation.

Allegheny County Police ask anyone with information to call their tipline at 833-255-8477.