Scratch Kitchen will remain closed — for now. Here’s what happened at a court hearing.

The Scratch Kitchen in downtown Ocean Springs, scene of a mass shooting a week ago, has agreed to remain closed for a week until a judge can hold a second hearing on the city’s request that the business be closed as a public nuisance.

At a hearing Friday, business owner Brittany Alexander told Chancery Court Judge Neil Harris that she has not had time to hire an attorney to represent her in a lawsuit the city filed Wednesday morning. Ocean Springs is asking Harris to close the business because of what the city claims are multiple code and legal violations.

The city started to present its case to Harris on Friday morning. But Harris closed the courtroom to the public a little more than an hour into the hearing, conferring with the city’s legal representatives and Alexander. Harris then announced that Alexander had agreed to close until she finds an attorney and reset the hearing for May 19.

A mass shooting at the bar and restaurant the night of May 5 killed one teenager and injured six other patrons, prompting the city’s legal action. The city planned to present evidence of illegal activity in and around the bar and restaurant, the lawsuit said.

Crowds too big, ‘chaotic’

Before the hearing was reset, Police Chief Mark Dunston and two other Ocean Springs Police Department officers took the stand. They described large crowds and vehicles blocking a street behind the business, which faces Government Street in the heart of downtown.

Dunston said he had to hire extra officers to work overtime when The Scratch Kitchen hosted DJ parties. He said the scene was “general chaos and havoc.”

The Scratch Kitchen has been closed as a crime scene since the shooting, but could possibly have reopened Friday night without the agreement reached in court. Dunston testified that he could “absolutely not” assure the safety of the public and his officers if the business had reopened.

“When you have 200 people and many of them are armed themselves,” he said, “ . . . you’re not going to be able to protect the citizens or my officers.”

He said officers were nearby when the shooting happened and two of his officers went inside to locate the shooter, who has since been arrested. The suspect had already left, as it turned out. The officers, Dunston said, were shoved and kicked by patrons.

At least three other firearms were in the business when the shooting happened, the lawsuit says. The Board of Aldermen voted unanimously in a closed meeting Tuesday to file the lawsuit.

Other Scratch Kitchen violations

Before the vote, residents packed the meeting room and spilled into the hallway. They were asked to wait outside while the aldermen discussed the lawsuit in private.

The lawsuit says the business also has been operating over its occupancy limit; failed to screen for deadly weapons, illegal drugs and bottled alcohol; and failed to identify underage customers, among other violations.

On April 16, during a spring break party, a man accidentally shot himself in the leg in a public parking lot across the street from the business.

During the hearing, Alexander said that city officials have wrongly claimed the shooting happened in the Scratch Kitchen parking lot. She also indicated that her business had never been cited by state Alcohol Beverage Control agents for underage drinking, but suggested another downtown establishment had been cited.

Government Street restaurants and bars featuring music have become a popular gathering place for young people, but Dunston indicated crowds are overwhelming only at The Scratch Kitchen.

Alexander said that she has talked with an attorney and hoped to hire one by Friday afternoon to represent her at the reset hearing.

The Scratch Kitchen was known for its unique menu when it initially opened a year ago. It is one of only two Black-owned businesses in downtown Ocean Springs.. Less than 5% of the city’s population is black, Census Bureau records show.

Alexander’s restaurant is not the only nightlife venue that has had issues with gun violence in recent months. There have also been shootings at Kahuna-OS and Ocean Springs Daiquiri Company. Arrests were made in both of those cases.