LMPD vehicles on Bardstown Road Saturday evening(Krista Kelley / LPM)Louisville Metro Alcoholic Beverage Control suspended the liquor license for the nightclub Atomic after two men were shot nearby early Sunday morning.In a statement, Atomic owner Dustin Hensley said the club has worked with Metro government to improve safety and that the weekend violence was not carried out by an Atomic patron.“Racism is now leading to the closure of bars where people go who happen to be of the same race as the people causing the lawlessness in the neighborhood,” Hensley wrote. “This very much seems like an effort to push an entire race out of the bar district.”Louisville Metro Police said they cited 39 people and arrested 24 on Bardstown Road over the weekend.In a statement Tuesday morning, ABC said the order to revoke Atomic’s liquor license goes into effect immediately.“We will not tolerate conditions at any establishment that threaten the safety of our community,” Mayor Craig Greenberg wrote in a statement. “I’m grateful for the swift action of Louisville Metro ABC and for their ongoing work to improve safety in the area as part of the summer task force.”Atomic regularly operates from 8 p.m. to 4 a.m. on weekends, though it also hosts events like watch parties outside of those hours. Hensley’s statement said Atomic has “the largest security team in the city” and that 99.95% of its customers do not cause trouble.Krista Kelley, who was at the Highlands bar on the night of the shootings, wrote in Facebook messages to LPM News that Atomic seemed serious about security and she “didn’t see any direct reason” for the license suspension. But Kelley also said the crowd was rowdy and she narrowly avoided a fight.Kelley’s girlfriend, Moira Whitten, agreed that tougher security is not likely to help.“It’s just the nature of the beast when you have that many party spots in one very dense area,” Whitten wrote. “More police presence may help, but that brings its own problems with police harassment of people that are just there to have a good time for the weekend.”In a statement sent to some media outlets on Monday, Atomic said it is “very unfortunate that the bars themselves are being blamed for things occurring off our properties and in the public right of way where we have no control.”The suspension of Atomic’s license is the latest response to late-night disorder and violence on Bardstown Road. LMPD’s new “summer task force” has concentrated officers there and in other areas where crowds gather at night.At a June 10 press conference about public safety, Metro Council Republican Caucus Chair Anthony Piagentini called for stricter sentences and “as many arrests as possible.”“It’s an incredibly safe area, except for a few hours on Bardstown Road on the weekend,” Piagentini said. “But what happens, because we’ve been doing searches there, we are dedicating resources to an area that are getting sucked out of our areas and other areas where we’re seeing increases in property crime.”In 2024, Metro Council passed an ordinance allowing the ABC to issue emergency suspensions of liquor licenses that threaten public safety. This is the 12th emergency suspension, with previous violations including a liquor store allegedly trafficking narcotics and a restaurant near the University of Louisville where ABC found nine underage people drinking.Overall, ABC license suspensions and revocations increased in the first eight months of 2025.In late 2024, ABC rejected the liquor license re-application for Baxter’s 942, a bar located a few blocks from Atomic, following two shootings outside the venue. The business has been fighting since then to have its license reinstated. ...read more read less