Scene75 in Romeoville sued over fatal shooting of Chicago man

A lawsuit claims a Romeoville entertainment center is liable for the fatal shooting of a young man because its staff failed to enforce its own policies and foresee that “gun violence was likely” to occur on their premises.

Shantal Adams, the sister of Darrick Dillon, 19, of Chicago, filed a lawsuit in Will County on April 2 against Scene75 Entertainment Center, 460 S. Weber Road, and its owners.

Dillon was shot and killed June 23, 2023, following an altercation with Tavaris Blakemore, 17, of Chicago.

Blakemore, who was 16 at the time of the shooting, has been charged with first-degree murder of Dillon, as well as aggravated battery of a 16-year-old teen from Chicago who was wounded in the shooting.

Blakemore is not named in Adams’ lawsuit, which describes a “16-year-old male from Chicago” who allegedly participated in a fight at Scene75.

Afterward, the 16-year-old left to retrieve a gun from a vehicle in the parking lot, according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit claims Scene75 had a policy mandating all youths under 18 to be accompanied by an adult older than 25 during the evening hours.

The lawsuit claims the 16-year-old male was able to enter Scene75 with a firearm and discharge the weapon. Dillon suffered multiple gunshot wounds in the shooting.

The lawsuit claims Scene75 knew or should have known that “gun violence was likely to occur on the premisses” given an argument and fight that “immediately proceeded the subject shooting.”

Adams’ lawsuit claims Scene75 failed to provide adequate security, failed to protect Dillon, failed to exclude the 16-year-old from the premises, failed to pat him down and use a metal detector and failed to take any action to protect patrons “after threats of gun violence.”

Scene75 did not respond to questions regarding the lawsuit as of Thursday.

The case against Blakemore is still in the pretrial stage, with a status hearing set for May 1 at the Will County Courthouse.

The Chicago Police Department has been subpoenaed for their records on the fatal shooting. Earlier this year, Will County Judge Dave Carlson allowed two people who appeared before a grand jury to retrieve three iPhones, a .380-caliber handgun, two firearm magazines and ammunition seized by police in the case.

In a related case, Geovanni Stolzenbach, 25, of Joliet, who’s also known by the last name Delgado, pleaded guilty Dec. 6 to felony disorderly conduct.

Stolzenbach falsely claimed to Romeoville police that someone other than Blakemore was involved in the Scene75 homicide, according to court records. Stolzenbach has no connection with Blakemore, according to Romeoville police officials.

Stolzenbach was sentenced to a year of conditional discharge.