“But it’s The Keg.”

It was a phrase that summed up a range of reactions among students piling into the bar Monday night.

The June 19 shooting at The Keg of Evanston, 810 Grove St., didn’t scare students away from a final night of excitement before classes began. The night was also the first Monday 18-and-Over Night since the start of New Student Week.

Weinberg freshman Suzie Sheetz said she still would go to the bar.

“Honestly, I didn’t even think about it,” she said. “I heard there was a shooting, but I didn’t hear much.”

The Keg temporarily closed after the shooting and re-opened July 5 following some minor renovations.

“We redid the floors and booths and restained and painted everything,” Keg owner Tom Migon said.

Changes start at the entryway, where bouncers scan photo IDs as patrons enter The Keg. The new video system will keep a record of everyone who enters The Keg each evening.

“It’s basically for insurance purposes and liability,” Migon said. “Other bars in the area have been doing so for some time now.”

Antoine Hill, 19, was charged with first-degree murder in relation to the June shooting of Robert Gresham, 22. Hill pleaded not guilty Aug. 22 after turning himself in to police over the summer. The two men were reported to be in a dispute that Keg employees were unable to break up before it escalated into violence.

Business was shaky during the summer, but crowds are improving, Migon said.

“We’ve started picking up business with the students back,” Migon said.

The crowd appeared thinner to students remembering the bar’s previously packed dance floor. Many students looked in the front windows to see the crowd before deciding whether to pay the cover fee and enter the bar.

“This is the first night it’s been like this,” Evanston resident Aaron Morrison said of The Keg’s crowd. “Before the students came back? 19 people, max. The test is if it gets full.”

Many freshmen said they had learned about the shooting from upperclassmen, who also told the newcomers The Keg was something they had to experience.

“No shooting is gonna stop me,” Education freshman John Colucci said. “This place is shady, but it was an isolated incident.”

Sheetz said the incident opened her eyes to the dangers of going out for a night.

“It brings us outside our bubble,” she said. “We have a false sense of security.”

Morrison said he thought the shooting was simply a personal matter. The men had met before and their conflict had already begun before that night, according to the police report.

“It probably would have happened somewhere else,” Morrison said. “Those two were looking for each other.”

“There could be a shooting at any bar,” Communication senior Cory Gluck said. “It makes me a little nervous, but I make a point of not starting fights in bars.”

As the music played on Monday night, students showed Migon the party must go on.

“Considering the lack of alternatives?” Weinberg sophomore Nikhil Reddy said.

“I’ll still go.”

Reach Laura Olson at [email protected].