More violence closes Roxbury pub

But that might have ended early yesterday in a burst of gunfire that left four people injured, none seriously, and the bar under new scrutiny for the violence that frequently erupts outside its doors near closing time.

The Licensing Board revoked its license until an emergency hearing Monday morning, when police will make another case for why Packy’s license should be permanently revoked.

Commissioner Edward F. Davis vowed to keep pushing for the bar’s closing, even if the board sides with Packy’s.

“In every other city in the nation, when you have a bar that’s out of control like this and people are being stabbed and shot, they shut the bar down,’’ he said. “This bar is generating crime. It needs to be shut down.’’

James Cairns, Packy’s owner, could not be reached for comment yesterday. A young man who answered the door at the Blue Hill Avenue pub and did not identify himself declined to comment.

The bar’s latest troubles began just before 2 a.m. yesterday when two uniformed officers working a guard detail inside Packy’s heard gunshots from across the street. An off-duty officer, who also heard the shots, saw a man shoot at three women and one man, then run down Blue Hill Avenue. Officers chased him, firing after he pointed his gun their way, according to a police report. They found the man hiding on the rear porch of a house. Police identified the suspect as Charkeem Hyatt, 19, of Dorchester. He pleaded not guilty yesterday in Roxbury District Court to several charges, including assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, and was held on $200,000 cash bail.

Police said the man Hyatt allegedly shot was his target and had been inside the bar with one of the injured women. Police did not release a motive or the names of the victims.

Daniel F. Pokaski, chairman of the Licensing Board, said he temporarily revoked Packy’s license because he feared there could be more violence at the bar if anyone associated with Hyatt’s alleged victims decided to seek revenge.

Police have made more than 100 service calls at Packy’s in the past five years. From November 2007 to April 2009, the tavern received 17 violations from 33 inspections, according to an earlier Globe report. In May, when the Licensing Board met to discuss the Police Department’s request to revoke Packy’s license, the board sided with the bar, saying that it was a victim of its environment and not the source of the violence.

Still, the chaos around the pub continued, with police responding to various shootings, stabbings, and fights since then.

On July 7, the board issued a warning against the bar for letting someone sneak out with a cup of alcohol. But the board dismissed violations for two other incidents: a shooting about a block from the bar and a fight outside the establishment. Few other bars have received as much attention from police, Pokaski said.

“The environment around it has been the problem in the past and not Packy’s,’’ Pokaski said. “Something has changed and we are trying to, in fact, determine why this has become such a hotbed for illegal activity. Are they attracting the wrong clientele?’’

But Davis scoffed at the idea that the neighborhood, rather than the bar, is the problem.

“This is not a situation where there is a good bar in a bad neighborhood,’’ he said. “When that bar goes away, the crime will stop.’’

Packy’s opened in the 1930s, soon after Prohibition was repealed.

Cairns, who bought the pub from his grandfather when he was 17, earned much of the black community’s loyalty when he stayed in Grove Hall after the race riots of the 1960s frightened most other white business owners.

During the day and early evening, the pub attracts working-class patrons, professionals, and retirees, who mingle over dominos, chicken wings, and plastic cups of beer. Late at night, however, the place gives way to a younger, rowdier crowd who police say pour onto the sidewalks after the bar closes at 2 a.m., creating the potential for violence.

Still, most incidents described by police have occurred outside the tavern. During Hyatt’s arraignment, prosecutors made no connection between him and the bar.

The police report said the shooting occurred at 196 Blue Hill Ave., across the street from Packy’s.

Many longtime customers and neighbors spoke out for Packy’s yesterday and said it is the criminal nature of the people who lurk around the tavern in the early morning hours who create the problems.

Carlos Henriquez, a 32-year-old neighbor of the bar, who lives three blocks away, said police and social service agencies should focus more on the immediate neighborhood, rather than the tavern.

“What I think is overlooked is what’s happening right around Packy’s five blocks in either direction,’’ said Henriquez, who is running against Councilor Chuck Turner this fall. “Sometimes it’s an open air drug market and prostitution market. . . . Packy’s is a working-class bar, and you’re going to have a bar fight from time to time, but when you have drug dealing, when you have prostitutes around, it changes the dynamic of the neighborhood.’’

Andrew Ryan of the Globe staff contributed to this report. Cramer can be reached at mcramer@globe.com; Ellement, at ellement@globe.com.