Beleaguered Greenville bar owner faces wrongful death lawsuit over Falls Park shooting (2024)

GREENVILLE — The family of a man who was fatally shot footsteps away from a now-shuttered downtown bar has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the owner and a bartender, who was working the night of the shooting.

In the family’s complaint, filed Aug. 13 in Greenville County, plaintiffs allege that the owner of 821 GVL, Danielle Britt, and one of her bartenders were negligent and failed to maintain a safe establishment, leading to the death ofWilliam Shamari Slade.

Britt, who this week wasarrested on charges that she stabbed her boyfriend after authorities say he assaulted her at the Lust strip club in Greenville, didn't respond to The Post and Courier's request to comment on the lawsuit.

In a previous interview with The Post and Courier, Britt said Slade, who was 27, got into an argument with Brian Murray inside 821 GVL.

Greenville Police allege that Murrayfired the fatal gunshots on Falls Park Drive, heard echoing through downtown in the early hours of May 26.

The lawsuit accuses the bartender of asking Murray to come to 821 GVL, where she was working, and confront Slade with “an exposed firearm about his person.”

Britt said the two men began arguing over the bartender. She said the bartender had previously dated Slade and was, at the time, dating Murray.

In a text message to The Post and Courier on May 29, Britt said she previously employed Murray at her other since-shuttered bar, The Lounge.

According to Britt, she removed the men from the premises of 821 GVL after the argument began.

“My staff, myself and my incredible customers did everything in our power going above and beyond to stop this incident from happening,” Britt said.

However, “the two men were determined to get their feelings out,” she said.

Slade’s family has alleged that multiple crimes have occurred at businesses owned by Britt, such that Britt and the bartender should’ve known the establishment had a “proclivity for violence” and “need for adequate security measures.”

Since the shooting, Murray has been arrested and charged with murder, possession of a weapon during a violent crime and failure to stop for blue lights.

The city issued 821 GVL a zoning violation the night after the shooting. The city alleged Britt's establishment failed to maintain an adequate number of security guards.

Records obtained by The Post and Courier show this was Britt’s second city citation for not having enough security. The bar has since remained closed.

Slade’s family is suing Britt and the bartender as a group and as individuals. Under South Carolina law, each defendant can be held liable for 100 percent of a plaintiff’s damages, as well as liable as a group.

The family has asked a jury to award them actual and punitive damages for mental and emotional distress caused by the death, as well as medical bills and other expenses.

The complaint alleges that Slade could have lived another 50 years, and his estate was deprived of the money he would have made had he reached his full life expectancy.

The lawsuit was filed a day before Britt was arrested Aug. 14 in a domestic dispute with her boyfriend.

Britt, 39, was charged with domestic violence of a high and aggravated nature and possession of a weapon while committing a violent crime, according to inmate records with the Greenville County Detention Center.

Fiehre Frenze Taylor, 31, her boyfriend, has been charged with second-degree domestic violence, according to inmate records.

Earlier in May, Britt’s other establishment, The Lounge, was evicted from its space at the northern end of downtown Greenville. The landlord, NomaCo LLC, alleged that Britt allowed patrons to behave indecently — publicly urinating and defecating in the alley, selling drugs on the premises and causing several calls to law enforcement.

During an interview with The Post and Courier, Britt said she believes the landlord wanted to break her lease because they didn’t like that her bar serves a primarily Black clientele. An attorney for her landlord said the eviction was for violating the lease terms and nonpayment of rent.