Tuscaloosa Eyes Revoking Business License of Lounge Where Guard Killed Guest

Elected officials in Tuscaloosa are weighing whether to revoke the business license of a hookah lounge where a security guard beat and fatally shot a 28-year-old man last weekend.

As the Thread previously reported, the victim Rashid Little was allegedly shot by 35-year-old Aaron Dewayne Hill, a bouncer at the still-new CRU Lounge off Highway 69 South in Tuscaloosa.

Videos shared on social media show several uniformed security guards beating Little for more than two minutes before he was dragged outside, where Hill is accused of fatally shooting him.

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Hill is charged with murder and is being held in the Tuscaloosa County Jail. In an order denying him bond, Judge Joanne Jannik noted Hill was already wanted for a series of drug charges in Bibb County at the time of the shooting and was also on probation for an unrelated misdemeanor case.

She also said he attempted to elude police when they came for him after the CRU shooting, and that he is both a flight risk and a danger to the community and denied his bond.

The business itself is also now in legal jeopardy after the Tuscaloosa City Council set a date for a public hearing to discuss revoking CRU's business license on Tuesday. The council did not discuss the issue but set February 13th as the date for the hearing.

The lounge's liquor license was granted this summer despite trepidation from Chief Brent Blankley and the police department, who worried its location would be a draw for criminal activity.

"We believe this is going to be a bar environment and it's going to stretch our resources even more," Blankley said. "It has a very large parking lot and if they're full inside, we believe it will overflow into the parking lot and we'll have issues there so the police department is heavily against this application."

For more on the council's deliberations as the develop, stay connected to the Tuscaloosa Thread.