COLORADO SPRINGS — Vickie Johnson said when she heard about the federal raid at an underground nightclub in Colorado Springs on Sunday morning, she felt relieved that investigators were "finally doing something."
"I'm so glad that they're... they're closing these places down," she said.
Her son, Elijah, was shot and killed at a different unlicensed nightclub on Airport Road in Dec. 2022. She said he had previously worked as a security guard at the club before his friends became worried for his safety.
"They were hounding him. You need to quit. Those places are not safe, you know. And then next thing you know, you know, of course, it was proven," said Johnson.
She said her son quit his security job a week before he was killed. On the night of the shooting, Johnson said her son went to the club as a patron.
"They were at the door, the front door, and heard a little commotion. So he said, 'Let me go see if these guys need help.' So he, you know, went back there, and I guess they were bringing this kid out, putting him out, and this kid pulled a gun and just started shooting," said Johnson.
Six months later, Colorado Springs Police arrested Omar Martinez-Sarmiento, who was 19 years old at the time of the shooting, and charged him with murder.
On Sunday morning, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agents led a large-scale raid at an unlicensed nightclub on South Academy Boulevard. The DEA Rocky Mountain Division said agents seized weapons, meth, and cocaine and arrested more than 100 people who were living in the country without proper documentation.
Johnson praised law enforcement officers for the raid and said she hopes this will lead to a larger crackdown on underground nightclubs across the city.
"I want to thank all of the police and the DEA and whoever was involved so much for taking a stand on this and making it, letting it be known, you can't keep, you people can't keep opening these places and think you're going to get away with it anymore," said Johnson.
Colorado Springs Police said it has investigated six nightclubs for potential illegal activity since 2022.
Police said New Havana Bar and Grill off North Academy Boulevard, an unnamed after-hours club on Palmer Park Boulevard, and La Terraza on South Circle Drive were all shut down through the public nuisance process. CSPD said Babilonia Bar and Grill on East Platte Avenue, Nova Nightclub on South Nevada Avenue, and El Huracán on South Academy Boulevard were evicted by their property owners.
A spokesperson for CSPD said some of these clubs were licensed and some were unlicensed. The spokesperson said each of the locations had multiple calls for service, which started a police investigation and the public nuisance process.
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