Lexington restaurant evicted from National Avenue spot after fatal mass shooting
A restaurant that was the site of a deadly shooting last week has been evicted.
Chad Walker, of Walker Properties, which owns the building at 701 National Ave., announced Tuesday to the surrounding neighborhoods that they had taken possession of the Warehouse Block property from restaurant owner Jesus de la Fuente.
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The eviction comes after police were called to El Cid just after midnight Friday for six people shot. One person, Antoine Clay, 31, was declared dead at 12:59 a.m. at the University of Kentucky Chandler Hospital. The other injuries were described as non-life-threatening, according to police.
Walker said in an interview that unbeknownst to him, de la Fuente had been operating the place as a club, rather than a restaurant, for several weeks.
“It was rented as a restaurant and supposed to close at 10 p.m., but it was still packed at midnight, with people on the sidewalks,” he said. “They were having big parties called ‘Toxic Thursday,’ and we didn’t know that was happening. The police confirmed that. ... It’s been a really rough one.”
Police held a news conference Wednesday afternoon urging the public to come forward if they saw something on the night of the shooting.
El Cid reopened restaurant day of shooting
The restaurant reopened Friday after the overnight shooting.
The shooting happened at 12:17 a.m., and (de la Fuente) opened for lunch,” Walker said. “He has yet to acknowledge there was a shooting.”
Walker said the shooter, who got out of the passenger side of a vehicle that pulled up to the restaurant, shot in through an open garage bay door into a packed bar crowd.
He said he was stunned to learn that the restaurant sat people in that spot later that day for lunch.
“It was so insensitive,” he said.
El Cid’s history
Walker had been trying to evict El Cid from the high-profile spot at the corner of National and Walton, just off Winchester Road, for months. In May, a Fayette District Court judge granted a writ of forcible detainer; El Cid’s proprietors, Silvia LLC, appealed but the appeal was dismissed. Walker had given de la Fuente until Aug. 12 to vacate.
The locks were changed 9 a.m. on Aug. 13, Walker said.
El Cid opened on National under a different owner in 2021; de la Fuente bought it in 2023.
The corner anchors a popular dining and entertainment district just off Winchester Road that includes Epping’s on Eastside, Mirror Twin Brewing and Rolling Oven Pizzeria, Blue Door Smokehouse, Sav’s Gourmet Ice Cream, Void Sake, Wild Lab Bakery, La Petite Delicat bakery and other businesses.
Walker said several prospective tenants called after the eviction to express interest in leasing the space.
On Monday, ONE Lexington director Devine Carama said his organization, which seeks to address gun violence, had reached out to all the victims of the mass shooting.
As of Monday, 40 people have been shot in Lexington so far this year, according to ONE Lexigton’s bi-weekly report on gun violence.
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