KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Kansas City, Missouri, police executed a search warrant Monday at a restaurant in the West Bottoms.
KCPD Sgt. Jake Becchina said investigators were searching all three floors of the building that houses Rockstar Burgers in the 1600 block of Genessee Street.
The search is part of an investigation into an alleged sexual assault that allegedly occurred at that address. The assault was first reported in April, according to police.
"Why did it take all of this and this long," questioned Stephanie Cook, who first organized protests against the restaurant after seeing explicit videos involving the owner surface online. "There was something happening in our backyard that we had no understanding of the gravity of."
Last week, the owner of Rockstar Burgers, 42-year-old Brian Smith, was charged with multiple felonies in Platte County.
Smith is accused of hitting a woman, with whom he'd previously had a relationship, in the head with a handgun on Nov. 24.
Smith, who had an apartment on the third floor above the 24/7 burger restaurant, also was allegedly involved in a physical altercation with another man in the woman's Parkville apartment.
The woman told police Smith had assaulted her in the past, but she didn't file a police report out of fear.
Smith is charged with second-degree domestic assault and armed criminal action. He could face up to seven years in prison.
Rockstar Burgers closed last month amid protests about Smith and his business.
According to employees nearby, who asked to remain anonymous, fights would regularly break out inside the restaurant and spill out onto the streets.
"I mean you name it, we’ve seen pretty much everything," one man said. "It's not what this neighborhood is about."
The establishment's liquor license expired on July 31, according to a spokesman for the city's Regulated Industies Division. Rockstar Burgers had until Nov. 30 to complete the renewal process, but never finalized the required paperwork.
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