Nightclub calls it a day as patrons steer clear after deadly drive-by
A Prahran nightclub at the centre of a drive-by shooting that left a security guard and patron dead will close its doors with clubbers shunning the once-popular venue.
Love Machine, which was also the target of separate extortion rackets by the Comanchero and Finks motorcycle gangs, had only reopened in November last year after undergoing a multi-million-dollar renovation.
It is understood the club's owner Dhir Kakar agreed to the decision after meeting with a consortium of investors from Melbourne and India last week.
The venue is not expected to relinquish its liquor licence and could be sold or re-opened at a later date.
The owners had replaced the security firm and appointed new promoters after the tragic shooting in April but the club had struggled to attract patrons and was repeatedly forced to close early.
Several staff have also left.
Mr Kakar did not respond to requests for comment from The Age.
Security guard Aaron Khalid Osmani, 37, died at the scene and Richard Arow, 28, passed away from his injuries days later.
Three other people were struck by bullets and another was injured trying to avoid the attack.
It is unclear whether the shooters were targeting specific security personnel when they opened fire just after 3.00am on Sunday, April 14 from a stolen Porsche Cayenne near the corner of Little Chapel Street and Malvern Road.
No arrests have been made but two sons of a prominent Middle Eastern crime figure remain the key suspects for the shooting.
Sources have told The Age that the duo allegedly launched the attack that also endangered the lives of dozens of other bystanders in revenge for one of them being ejected from the club at a previous event.
More than a half dozen bullets were fired from a high-powered assault rifle at the front of the Prahran club in the early hours of April 14.
The suspects allegedly used their underworld contacts to order the delivery of the car, which had been stolen a month earlier in Dandenong, as well as to obtain a high-powered, military-style assault rifle and anonymous “burner” mobile phones.
After the attack, the car was dumped and torched around 5am in the outer northern suburb of Wollert.