Judge halts Elleven45 hearing, owner arrested in court

ATLANTA - The hearing about the future of the Elleven45 nightclub paused shortly before 12:30 p.m. Thursday when the judge learned that the owner had an outstanding warrant. 

Djibril Dafe was placed in handcuffs after the judge was informed that he had an active warrant for his arrest. According to the Fulton County Sheriff's Office, Dafe was charged with failure to appear for fingerprintable charge on May 14.

"Mr. Dafe, it appears you have an active warrant out of non-complex, and I'm going to have to take you into custody. I'm going to ask court staff not to take you out for processing until the end of the day... It's a failure to appear in superior court non-complex," said Fulton County Superior Court Judge Rachelle Carnesale. 

Dafe was then placed in handcuffs and led out of the courtroom. While the judge ordered that he be taken into custody, she told deputies to not process him until the end of the hearing.

According to the Fulton County Jail website, Dafe has been arrested at least three previous times since 2011, with the latest in December 2022 for theft by taking and identity theft fraud.  

Why was Djibril Dafe in court?

Dafe was in court to argue that the Buckhead nightclub should remain open after a deadly shooting in May that resulted in two deaths and several injuries. 

Djibril Dafe (Fulton County Sheriff's Office)

Thursday’s hearing was at the request of the city of Atlanta, who filed an injunction to shut down the Buckhead nightclub, claiming it has become a nuisance. The lawsuit names Elleven45 Lounge, LLC; Sovereign Entertainment, Inc.; Djibril Dafe; Ahmed Uwhubetine; Bennett Street Properties, LP; and Wilmington Trust National Association as defendants. 

"From May 2023 to May of 2024, roughly 270 calls for service, about 200 of those were self-initiated where officers were pulling out on traffic stops, directed patrols, or extra jobs at that location, and roughly 70 were 911 calls for service, about 20 alarm calls, as well as dispute calls and theft calls whether it was stolen vehicles or vehicles that were broken into," testified Major Benjamin Vayens, who leads the Zone 2 precinct, in which the nightclub is located. 

"You will hear from the city of Atlanta's police officers and witnesses that some of those incidents that involve firearms around Elleven45 that were not inside the building, they were not, sometimes not even within the...property's property area or own parking lot," argued the attorney for Bennett Street Properties, L P, which is listed as the owner of the property by the Fulton County Board of Assessors. 

The lounge has been closed following the deadly Mother’s Day shooting. The hearing was to determine if the business would ever reopen again. 

"It was just complete chaos. There were several people on the ground that appeared to be shot," testified Atlanta Police Officer Dajuan Walker, one of the first to respond to the shooting call. 

Video shows Elleven45 shooting

Karanji Reese was taken into custody in June for the shooting. He has been charged with murder, aggravated assault, and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony. He is accused of killing Marion Crayton and Nicholas Ridley. 

Surveillance cameras at Elleven45 Lounge captured the double murder on May 12. Reese is seen just passing the security checkpoint at the lounge wearing a black hoodie and green cargo pants. He walks in, and the next perspective shows strobing lights, a couple of 100 people in the lounge. At 2:25 a.m., bullets started flying. 

The video goes on to show club-goers immediately running for cover. Unfortunately, Ridley and Crayton died. Four others were injured, including Lauren Moore, who was shot in both legs. The detective said the lounge had thorough pat-down security procedures, yet she remains unclear about how Reese managed to enter with a weapon.  

Reese remains in the Fulton County Jail without bond. 

Since the shooting, the lounge agreed to close for 60 days after city officials began calling for its closure. The owners have said they will take additional steps in the meantime to ensure the safety of its customers. 

What does the judge mean by ‘non-complex’? 

In the Fulton County Superior Court, "non-complex" refers to criminal non-complex cases. Such cases include all felonies outside the bounds of the Criminal Complex Division.

Complex criminal cases encompass a range of serious offenses, including treason, homicide, sexual assault, aggravated cases of sodomy, robbery involving the use of weaponry, the hijacking of aircraft and vehicles, any form of child sexual abuse, sexual battery deemed to be aggravated, the production and distribution of illegal drugs, abduction, break-ins, willful fire-setting, assault with aggravated intent, severe battery, persistent harassment, and other felony-level sexual crimes. Additionally, any felony that features the use of firearms falls into this category. This definition also includes any legal situation in which the defendant has a history of three or more felony convictions, automatically categorizing it as a complex case, irrespective of the current charges. 

A good rule of thumb to determine if it is complex or non-complex is if there was violence involved in the case. However, the district attorney’s office can petition the court to consider a case to be moved into the complex division. 

In Dafe’s case, court records indicate he did not surrender himself to be fingerprinted and processed on charges of identity theft fraud, theft by taking, and theft by deception following an incident on April 18, 2022. The judge assigned to non-complex cases that week issued a bench warrant for his arrest on May 14, which just happened to be two days after the deadly shooting at the Elleven45 lounge.