SW Houston after-hours club closes 2 days after 6 people were shot in its parking lot

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- Two days after six people were shot in its parking lot, Latinas Sports Bar in southwest Houston has shut down.

Police are still investigating the after-hours club, which had been operating on Hillcroft Avenue just south of the Southwest Freeway.

RELATED: Police search for 2 suspects in mass shooting outside after-hours club in southwest Houston

"I truly believe that these after-hours clubs are one of the biggest crime drivers in Harris County," District Attorney Sean Teare said.

According to the landlord, the tenants of Latinas willingly moved out.

Nobody there has been criminally charged.

In the past two weeks, two other Houston after-hours clubs have been raided and shut down.

On March 15, the District Attorney's Office, along with multiple police and government agencies, showed up unannounced at a northwest Houston club called The Library.

Fourteen people were arrested after police said the club didn't have a license or any permits to operate.

Just five days later, on March 20, the TABC shut down Fridas in East Houston, saying there were 25 potential human trafficking victims there.

"When you talk to any of the street officers who are out there day in and day out, they can tell you the places that are known for violence, the places that are known for putting drunks on the road at 4 a.m.," Teare said.

Historically, after-hours clubs have been difficult to regulate or shut down because they operate under what many call a loophole. The clubs can't sell alcohol, but people can bring their own.

Even when the clubs are shut down, Houston police say have reopened quickly in the past.

The District Attorney said that's why arrests aren't enough in taking down these businesses.

"It's got to be a civil prohibition on the fact that they're a nuisance, we've gotta go through asset forfeiture routes," Teare said. "Things of that nature are going to make it punitive for the people that need to be punished."

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