Days after the owner of La Danse Nightclub announced the bar would be closing, it burned.
La Danse was facing increased scrutiny after three people were shot outside the club May 3. Police said a fight started between two women inside the club before 2:30 a.m. Security broke up that fight and kicked them out, the department said in a statement.
Then gunfire rang out outside the club. It was the second shooting connected to the club in about a year. Traivon Bohannon surrendered to police and was charged with criminal homicide and two counts of aggravated assault.
A May 5 Instagram post said the bar would be closing "effective immediately." Then came a fire that damaged two other businesses, Puff and Hit Smoke Shop and Red Phone Booth on May 11.
Now, owner Keroles Karlas, an employee of the vape shop, Ashraf Salem and friend Mina Baslyous are facing arson charges.
Video footage from a Metro Nashville Police Department camera captured three people exiting the Puff and Hit Smoke Shop just after 2 a.m., according to court records. Shortly after, "smoke was visible emanating from the roof area of the structure, and the footage documented the smoke's progression to the exterior of the building."
The three people got into a car parked next to the building and watched until smoke was visible at ground level, their arrest affidavits said. An employee was closing The Red Phone Booth when he noticed smoke in an office room that shared a wall with the nightclub.
A fire investigator with the Nashville Fire Department said there were two, non-connecting, areas where fires were set, according to the affidavits.
In an interview, Karlas told investigators that he was at the nightclub watching a movie on his computer and using his cell phone to look for new venues, the afffidavit said.
"Karlas also stated he was considering rebranding and redesigning the nightclub to attract a different clientele," the affidavit said. "He reported being in the back of the nightclub within feet of one of the identified areas of origin."
Salem told investigators he was inside the vape shop the whole time, while Baslyous was with Karlas, court records said.
Video footage also caught audio as the three left the building, taking a "shot of suspected liquor." A federal agents translated the audio from Arabic to English.
"The individuals were on audio having a conversation saying 'ok, let's go drink,' 'let's go boss,'" according to the arrest affidavit. "'This is fire, my boy Almy. It's fire. Let's go. God forgive you.'"
The fire did not cause any injuries.
Each of the men were booked into the Downtown Detention Center with bond set at $500,000 each.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Months after Nashville nightclub fire, its owner is charged with arson
