ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — Orange County Sheriff John Mina is calling for legislative changes that would cut down on businesses selling alcohol illegally. This comes after two men were arrested Monday in connection with a shooting at the Washington Hookah Lounge in West Orlando, hurting three people.

Investigators with the sheriff's office believe that business was illegally selling alcohol. Authorities say many after-hours clubs or hookah lounges operate without a liquor license, which they say is a widespread issue that can attract crime.

Mina said one of his legislative priorities for the year would make selling alcohol without a license a felony. Currently, illegal alcohol sales are a second-degree misdemeanor, which is punishable by up to two months in jail and a $500 fine.

“Even if we shut these places down, they’re just opening back up the next day," said Mina. "They don’t care about the little $500 fine. But if we’re putting owners and employees in jail awaiting felony charge, which could lead up to prison, we think they may have greater consequences.”

If changed to a felony, Mina said his agency has more power to investigate these types of crimes and overall strengthen their case. He’s currently working with lawmakers to amend the code.

A nearby business owner said the lounge where the shooting happened is fairly new, but on weekends is quite busy. He supports potential changes to the existing law.

Angel Cruz moved to Orlando from the Bronx six years ago. Making his guys look good is his passion. But on Sunday his daily routine changed.

“I come every day open at 8:00 a.m. But in the morning I see the street is closing. Something happened over there,” said Cruz. “There’s a hookah lounge over there, some people drinking alcohol when they can’t be drinking alcohol. The younger people when they are drinking alcohol and everybody here has a gun. They don’t think.”

Mina wants to crackdown on these types of incidents.

“We have persons in an establishment like that drinking all night long. We’ve succumb some issues we’re seeing. We had a number of shootings at some of these after-hour establishments. So we’re looking to propose legislation that would have greater consequences for these after hour establishments,” said Mina.  

He hopes by changing the current second-degree misdemeanor to a felony, it will not only allow his deputies to further investigate these incidents but also cut down on the violence often associated with it.

As for Cruz, he’s happy to see the Sheriff’s Department advocating to keep his community safer.

Mina told Spectrum News he’s putting together a task force to combat this issue at the local level, while he pushes for unlawful alcohol sale law amendments at the state level.