Owner Protests Police Closing of Club as Political

The owner of a District club shut down since a fatal shooting said yesterday that he had taken every reasonable precaution to prevent violence inside his establishment and that the business was suffering unfairly because of Police Chief Cathy L. Lanier's order to close it for four days.

"We did everything right," said Abdul Khanu, owner of H2O Restaurant & Lounge. "These guys had been arguing and feuding in their neighborhood for some time. These same two guys could have seen each other at a Lakers game and got into it. I would just like to know: If the same situation happened at the Verizon Center . . . would she shut down the Verizon Center? I think it's politics. I think it's public relations."

Khanu, whose club was the site of a recent fundraiser for Sen. Barack Obama and an event for Sen. John McCain's staff, said he could not give an estimate of the damage his business would suffer but said the publicity and the closure will cost him a lot of money.

"I'm going to be greatly impacted," he said.

The two patrons involved in the fight, identified by police as Nelson Able Jr. and Rashod Holmes, both of Northwest Washington, began quarreling about 3 a.m. Sunday after a party hosted by middleweight boxing champion Floyd Mayweather, investigators said.

Bouncers ejected the two men. Police said Holmes, 26, then went to his vehicle, got a handgun and shot Able in the head. Able died on the way to a hospital, police said.

A D.C. police officer who was working an overtime security detail saw the shooting and ordered Holmes to drop his weapon, police said. Holmes pointed the gun at the officer, who opened fire. Holmes was struck in his left thigh, left hand and groin. It was not known how many shots were fired, and the incident is under investigation, police said yesterday.

D.C. police would not identify the officer involved in the shooting. Traci Hughes, a police spokeswoman, also defended Lanier's emergency order closing the business for 96 hours, saying the owner can contest its merits at an Alcoholic Beverage Regulation Administration hearing.

Both Able and Holmes had criminal records, according to public documents.

Holmes remained hospitalized yesterday at Washington Hospital Center. He was charged with murder while armed and assaulting an officer while armed and was scheduled to be arraigned in D.C. Superior Court today, Hughes said.

Able had been convicted of several drug charges and had been shot twice before, his mother, Linda Green, said Sunday. She said he was 39.

Researcher Karl Evanzz contributed to this report.