Owner defends his bar after shooting

NIAGARA FALLS, N.Y. (WIVB) - One person was shot and two others were hit by a car while trying to flee the shooting scene outside of Mujun'z Bar in Niagara Falls on Sunday.

Police say this bar has a troubled past and say they plan to get tough with the Pine Avenue bar.

Niagara Falls Police Capt. William Thomson said, "We intend to report it to the New York State Liquor Authority and ask for sanctions."

Authorities say there was a large crowd in Mujun'z Bar. And when it closed, everyone emptied out into the street early Sunday morning. Then a shot rang out on Pine Avenue.

"The people that were gathered around all scattered and a couple of them got struck by passing cars and one person was shot in the hip," Capt. Thomson said.

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Bar owner Sheldon Baker thinks his establishment is getting a bad rap.

"Mujun'z is a clean place. I've worked very hard to keep it so," he contended.

Baker says what happened on Pine Avenue happened after the bar was closed, and says the people involved were not in his bar.

"We've never had any incident in this bar. The only incidents occur from the parking lot adjacent to us and behind us," Baker argued.

Capt. Thomson says there have been other complaints about Baker's bar in the past. But he says this is the most serious.

"They could be working with the police department. They can better screen their customers," Capt. Thomson said.

Baker says he's happy to work with police - and is ready to get started.

"If the police would have broken this stuff up when they were called the first time, not let it go four hours, like I've asked them to do before. Clear the parking lots. Clear the street. That's what you're paid for," Baker said.

Baker says in the five years he's owned the bar, it's been a safe place for locals to frequent.