WILKES-BARRE -- The owner of a lounge is speaking out after someone was shot outside the place in Wilkes-Barre.
This was after the mayor said he is considering getting Passion Lounge shut down.
Owner Eyhab Matari is speaking out after a man was shot.
Just after 2 a.m. on Friday, police responded to Passion Lounge on Scott Street when gunfire erupted.
Since then, Wilkes-Barre's mayor tells Newswatch 16 he's considering closing down the lounge under the Nuisance Bar Law but Matari does not think it is fair.
"Our regular customers that come in here, they know this is a safe place to bet at," said Matari.
With security cameras in every corner and security guards always on staff, Matari tells us his place on Scott Street is always on watch.
He won't let us show the surveillance videos from Thursday night, but we got a look at the footage and you can see the shooter never enters the lounge.
Detectives believe the gunman knew the victim and targeted him before running away.
"We had no incidents in here," said Passion Lounge security guard Gilberto Santana. "No verbal confrontations, nothing. We were good in here, then that happened out there. What more can we do to prevent that?"
Owners and security guards plan to do whatever they can to keep Passion Lounge open and plan to talk to the mayor and the chief of police to see what else they can do.
"We didn't shoot anyone out there," added Santana. "You close us down, 20 to 30 people lose their jobs and for what? They go away? Is that what everybody thinks? You close it down and these people go away? Whoever did this, the criminal element is just to find another spot."
This is just the latest shooting at the lounge. Back in July, a customer was shot inside.
Matari plans to convince city leaders the lounge should stay open.
The mayor and Wilkes-Barre police didn't return our calls for comment.