NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) – “A war zone.”

That’s how some neighbors described a shootout in South Nashville over the weekend that happened outside of Illuzion Lounge on Murfreesboro Pike, leaving three people injured as well as a trail of evidence.

Metro police said on Sunday morning, two separate groups of people fired shots, as well as security guards outside of the lounge. According to a post on Illuzion Lounge’s social media, the club just opened in August.

“I did hear eventually some officers come through saying, ‘clear, clear, clear,'” said Travis Ball who lives nearby.

Ball heard the aftermath of the shootout in the early morning hours of Sunday after returning from work.

“I started hearing the sirens kind of coming in.” he said. 

His home is one of many that back up to the parking lot where Metro police said the shooting occurred. Some neighbors told News 2 they heard 50 to 100 shots.

Several businesses nearby, like O’Reilly Auto Parts, were hit by the gunfire. An employee pointed to where about a half dozen bullets hit their building and two of their delivery vehicles in the parking lot.

The owner of a neighboring business said he has 16 cameras on the property that captured footage that’s been turned over to investigators.

The business owner said he installed the cameras after having issues from a hookah lounge that previously occupied the same spot. In 2019, Metro police said a man was critically injured outside the hookah lounge and in 2017, another man was shot multiple times in the parking lot.

“It had been Pharaoh’s Lounge for a long time. I have made a bunch of noise complaints in the past regarding music from inside the club and then just people being loud in the parking lot. It actually had been pretty quiet and I didn’t realize until now just talking to you that it had been reopened, and I guess that’s why it’s been a little more active recently and now this occurrence makes it very obvious that things are going on back there again,” said Ball. 

While three people were wounded in the shooting, it could have ended much worse.

“They hit walls. They hit dirt. They hit other people. You know, I don’t want to be out and about if that’s going to be happening,” Ball explained.

Management with Illuzion Lounge posted on social media saying in part their primary concern is the safety of customers and staff.