Virginia Beach tavern owner granted bail after being charged with running a disorderly business
VIRGINIA BEACH — The owner of a Virginia Beach bar that’s been the scene of two shootings over the past year and a half was granted bond Wednesday after spending five days in jail on charges accusing her of illegally selling alcohol and running a disorderly business.
Shani Yourman Davis, 40, owner of West Beach Tavern on Cleveland Street, turned herself in Friday after learning police had issued warrants for her arrest, according to her attorney, Mike Joynes.
Although all five charges Yourman Davis faces are misdemeanors, a magistrate ordered her held without bond. The city’s courts were closed for four days for the July 4th holiday weekend, so she wasn’t able to get a hearing until Wednesday.
The bar’s license was revoked June 1, according to a Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control spokesperson. Three weeks before that, two people were injured in a May 7 shooting outside the bar.
Joynes said Virginia ABC began investigating the tavern shortly after that. The agency came up with a list of conditions that Yourman Davis was required to implement, including installing a walk-through metal detector at the entrance, closing two hours earlier, and adding more security cameras in the parking lot.
“We believe we’d met all their conditions but (Virginia) ABC and the Virginia Beach police say we didn’t,” Joynes said.
West Beach Tavern was also the scene of a shootout in March 2022 that involved bar patrons and police. It started when a patron left the business, got an assault rifle from his car and began firing at people gathered outside. Another man then grabbed his gun and shot back at the first. Two responding police officers then fired at him. Four people were injured in the incident. The patron with the assault rifle was sentenced in April to four years in prison.
A Virginia Beach police spokesperson said Wednesday he was unable to comment on whether the bar owner’s arrest was related to either shooting. But he said police are still investigating the May shooting and looking for two men believed to be connected to the incident.
Yourman Davis, originally from Israel, has a clean record, owns the Virginia Beach tavern and a restaurant in Chesapeake, and is the mother of three minor children, Joynes told District Judge Vivian Henderson.
Joynes argued bond should always be granted in cases where the defendant is not believed to be a danger to themselves or others, and doesn’t pose a flight risk. There was no evidence that she posed any risks while out on bond, he said. Henderson agreed and set a $7,500 secured bond. She also ordered that Yourman Davis surrender her passport.
West Beach Tavern first received a license to sell alcohol in February 2016, according to an ABC spokesperson.
Jane Harper, jane.harper@pilotonline.com
