Greensboro city leaders address safety on Spring Garden Street after shootings

GREENSBORO, N.C. (WGHP) — City leaders are taking a closer look at Spring Garden Street after two shootings happened last week. Both happened in the span of 48 hours.

One of those shootings was fatal. NC A&T State University student Davion Jessup died. The second shooting happened at Petra Hookah Lounge. A victim was shot on Saturday at the business, and they are expected to survive.

All of this is causing city leaders to take a closer look at what could be the reason for the violence.

Greensboro police responded to a shooting at Petra Hookah Lounge on Spring Garden Street just after 3 a.m. on Saturday. A person was hit by gunfire, but police say they will survive, and the search continues to find out who is responsible.

“We really do want to make sure that the community knows that we take all of these crimes and all of these incidents seriously,” Greensboro Assistant City Manager of Public Safety Nathaniel Davis said.

Two days before the hookah lounge shooting, another shooting happened on that same street. Davion Jessup, 20, was killed at Campus Crossing Apartment Complex.

“The Office of Community Safety here in Greensboro were on Spring Garden Street this past Monday as a show of support for the community, as a show of support for the family of Davion Jessup and to let them know that we see what’s happening, and we do care,” Greensboro City Council At-Large Member Hugh Holston said.

City leaders say they take these acts of violence very seriously, especially when they are concentrated in one area.

“We’re doing things proactively to try and address those. We also recognize … the last few years, we’ve seen different incidents happen in the corridor,” Davis said. “So we’re engaged in businesses. We’re making sure that we hold them accountable.”

Since Aug. 2023, there have been several calls for service to Petra Hookah Lounge for disorderly conduct and two calls about guns going off not including Saturday’s shooting.

The day after Saturday’s shooting, there was a 911 call for service to the business for a robbery.

On Tuesday, the city’s safety review team visited the business and conducted a fire inspection. Violations were found with the fire alarm system, and the HVAC unit failed to meet the code for a hookah lounge.

It will be closed until officials confirm the issues have been addressed.

In March, another business on Spring Garden Street called Culture Lounge closed its doors for good after a shooting. Prior to that, The Blind Tiger closed in 2022.

Greensboro Mayor Nancy Vaughan said there have been improvements since those closures.

“I’m not sure why Spring Garden seems to kind of be an epicenter of bad behavior. We hope to see some changes … I think some of it has to do with the lack of parking … People are parking in neighborhoods, and that … is encouraging bad behavior,” Vaughan said.

Greensboro police are still investigating both shootings. With UNCG sitting nearby, the city and police department say they are working closely with UNCG police to ensure safety in the area.

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