Jack Harlow to undergo questioning in lawsuit over 2021 fatal Louisville nightclub shooting

Rap star and Louisville native Jack Harlow will undergo a deposition later this year as part a lawsuit filed in the wake of a 2021 deadly shooting during a pre-Kentucky Derby party at a River Road nightclub.

Attorneys for the estate of Kasmira Nash, the woman killed in the 2021 shooting, filed a notice Friday in Jefferson Circuit Court that they will proceed with a videotaped deposition of Harlow on Aug. 30 at the Stites & Harbison law firm office on Market Street in downtown Louisville. Ronnie T. O’Bannon, Harlow's DJ at the time, was criminally charged following the shooting in a case that is still pending.

The deposition's main purpose is for discovery, or collecting any evidence and testimony that attorneys could use later on in the civil case. A trial date or mediation date has not yet been set, according to online records.

Robyn Bell Stanton, an attorney for Kennedy Tinker, who is the administratix of the estate of Nash, declined to comment Friday afternoon. Nash, 37, had two children, according to a GoFundMe campaign started after her death.

Stites & Harbison attorneys Brian Butler, Thad Barnes and Caitlyn Barnes, who are representing Harlow and Harlow Enterprises Inc., did not immediately respond to an email and phone call seeking comment Friday.

O'Bannon, was charged with murder and tampering with physical evidence after police said he fatally shot Nash, a bartender at Vibes Restaurant and Ultra Lounge, 1346 River Road, around 1:30 a.m. on May 1, 2021, during an argument amid a "Derby Weekend Kickoff" party.

Harlow was in the nightclub at the time of the shooting, and he backed out of an invitation to do the "Riders Up" call later that same day at the 2021 Kentucky Derby. (He came back a year later to the 2022 Derby to perform "Riders Up" and film the music video for his "Churchill Downs" song with Drake.)

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O'Bannon, 29, also known as Ronnie Lucciano, has pleaded not guilty to the charges and has been on home incarceration in Louisville, with a jury trial currently scheduled for October. O'Bannon's attorney, Steve Romines, previously said he was "defending himself" after Nash hit him with a champagne bottle and confronted him.

Other lawsuit defendants will also undergo videotaped depositions on separate days in August, including Allen Evans, the owner of the since-shuttered club, and Neelam Thadhani, Harlow's manager, according to online court records.

Three lawsuits that name Harlow, some of his associates, the former nightclub's security team and others as defendants have been filed over the shooting at Vibes, which eventually closed after the shooting. Attorneys have since agreed to merge the cases into one case before Jefferson Circuit Judge Eric Haner.

Claims made in a lawsuit represent only one side of a case.

The lawsuit from Nash's estate was filed in December 2021 and claims the club's management and security firm allowed O'Bannon, Harlow and other associates to bypass security, which also allowed the gun O'Bannon used to shoot Nash to be brought in that night.

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The suit on behalf of Nash's estate asks for financial damages as well as reimbursement for attorney fees and funeral expenses.

Over a week after the 2021 deadly shooting, Harlow wrote on Instagram that he was "devastated by the events that occurred over Derby weekend."

"My heart breaks for Kasmira, her children, and everyone else touched by this tragic death," he wrote on his Instagram story. "My heart breaks for my city, a place that’s been through too much pain already. I’ve been in touch with Kasmira’s family during this unimaginably painful time, and I’m grateful to them for keeping the lines of communication open."

Reach Billy Kobin at bkobin@courierjournal.com

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Jack Harlow to have deposition in Louisville Vibes nightclub shooting