Hat Tricks loses liquor license after recent shooting

Covington’s Alcohol & Beverage Control Board has upheld emergency license revocations against Hat Tricks, a sports bar on Madison Avenue, after a nearly four-hour-long hearing on Thursday.

This action occurred in the wake of the shooting of the bar’s security guard early in the morning on Sunday, May 17, the suspect for which is still at large.

The revocations will remain in effect for two years, although the bar’s owner has the right to appeal to the state within 30 days.

The city’s Alcohol and Beverage Control Administrator, Lydia Northcutt, initiated an emergency revocation of the licenses shortly after the shooting, specifically because the bar failed to have a police officer present on site after 1 a.m., a requirement the city imposed on the business after previous complaints and instances of violence in and around the establishment. The shooting earlier this month put the bar’s security guard into “long-term recovery,” Northcutt said. He was shot three times, including once in the head.

Northcutt, along with two detectives, the bar’s owner, Johnnie Riley, and a bartender from Hat Tricks, testified at the hearing. Administrative hearings are structured a bit like court trials in that each side is represented by attorneys and is allowed to cross-examine witnesses, although evidentiary standards are less strict. City Solicitor Frank Schultz acted in the role of prosecutor.

“We’re not asking this board to decide the criminal guilt,” said Schultz to the board members. “What happened on May 17 is horrible. What you have to ask yourself is can this establishment continue to run in a safe manner, not just [for] the patrons of bar but the people that live and work in the city.”

Hat Tricks had lost its 2:30 permits multiple times in its 15 years of operation, first in 2013 and then again in 2022, based on calls and complaints from residents about fighting, public intoxication, guns and other unpleasantries.

The bar later appealed its 2022 permit revocation, but the city granted it back only under the condition of greater security protocols at the bar: pat downs, bag searches and metal detector wands at the door, state-administered training for workers on alcohol regulations and the presence of a police officer after 1 a.m. on weekends.

Subsequent instances extended the conditions. As an example, Schultz played a video of a brawl in 2025 that started just outside of the bar before spilling out onto the street and into the parking lot opposite the business.

A bystander recorded the video, and it made its rounds on social media. Northcutt actually stated she found out about the fight organically by seeing it on her social media feed before hearing about it directly. Witness testimony revealed the bar had actually refused entry to the group, and Hat Tricks’ attorney Jim Morgan argued this absolved them of responsibility for that particular instance.

Northcutt stated her department had received about five or six complaints about the bar in the last couple of years, plus about 20 police calls.

Riley admitted that she had essentially canceled the officer’s presence for May 17, a rainy day on which business was slow. Detective Greg Andrews, who was responsible for coordinating the scheduling of the officer, affirmed that Riley had requested to cancel and that he had OKed her request. Likewise, Misty Garcia, the bartender who was working the night of the shooting, attested that business had been slow that day and that on slow days the bar would sometimes close early, usually around 1 a.m.

Garcia said she was not aware of the police officer’s schedule, although she did say he had coordinated with Riley early in the night about closing. But a group of about 25 people showed up after midnight, which prompted her to keep the bar open. Garcia said that Frank Smith, the Cincinnati resident who has been identified as the main suspect in the shooting, was a new face at the bar, at least as far as she knew.

Detective Galvin Adkisson, the lead detective on the shooting investigation, shared what he had gleaned from the security footage of the night. He’d also completed some witness interviews, as well, but was constrained in what he could discuss about those since the investigation was ongoing.

Smith had gone in and out of the bar several times. He was searched only once, Adkisson said, in a way he characterized as inadequate – the small of Smith’s back, where one could conceal a gun, was not patted down, for instance. Wands were never used. Although it was possible Smith could have retrieved the gun when he was not visible on the cameras, Adkisson said, it was likely Smith had the gun with him in the bar, based on the security footage. Garcia said the shooting occurred at 1:08 a.m.

Riley believed that some of the complaints the bar had received over the years could have been attempts by an adjacent business owner, Brad Zapp of Connetic Ventures, to get her to leave the space. Riley had had discussions with one of Zapp’s staff members about possibly buying the property, but no formal offer was ever made. LINK nky has reached out to Zapp to confirm this.

In any case, Riley’s attorney described the revocations as the “death penalty” for the business and argued the business shouldn’t be held responsible for the actions of a criminal, even as he admitted calling off the police officer was a violation of the conditions the city had placed on Hat Tricks.

“We’re taking the death penalty because somebody else committed the heinous offense of shooting someone outside of our business, which happens to also be within a block of four other bars, but we’re going to get shut down for it if we uphold the request for revocation,” Morgan said.

The board’s decision to uphold the revocations is unanimous.

Smith is still at large and is considered armed and dangerous. Anyone with any information about his whereabouts should contact Covington PD (859)292-2234 or leave a tip with Cincinnati/NKY Crime Stoppers at (513)352-3040. Cash rewards are available for information that leads to his arrest.