The promoter who had reserved the Vicksburg Convention Center the night a gun was fired expected up to 450 people to attend an event described as a party with a disc jockey, according to a contract obtained by The Vicksburg Post through the Freedom of Information Act.

A gun was fired inside the center at 2:13 a.m., Easter Sunday, said Vicksburg police, who were walking through the building and arrested four people and confiscated three guns.

Officials with the convention center have scheduled a meeting next week to discuss safety issues.

The contract also shows:

• Exhibit Hall A was rented to Genoa Williams, 1223 Monroe St., for a party to begin at 9 p.m. Saturday, April 7. It was to end at 2:30 a.m. April 8.

• Williams paid $1,581 to rent the hall. The fee included $850 for rent, $255 for a $2 million liability insurance policy, which Williams asked the center to purchase for him, and $576 for hiring six security guards, two for eight hours and four for five hours. The insurance policy had to include coverage for the City of Vicksburg, the Board of Mayor and Aldermen, the Vicksburg Convention Center and VenuWorks, the Ames, Iowa-based facility management service that operates the center.

• Food and alcohol were to be provided by the convention center’s contracted caterer.

Contacted Tuesday, a spokesman for the center’s caterer, Palmertree Catering of Vicksburg, said food and alcohol were served until 2 a.m. Betty Palmertree said a full bar was available.

According to the convention center’s website, www.vccmeet.com, rent for Exhibit Hall A costs $850.

According to the facility use agreement, the convention center provides security at the client’s expense at $16 an hour per security guard for a minimum of four hours. Center officials determine how many guards are needed for an event.

Steven L. Peters, the president of VenuWorks, said Tuesday that a representative of the company will attend the April 25 meeting of the Vicksburg Convention Center Advisory Board to discuss recommendations for improving security and safety at the center.

Peters said convention center executive director Troy Thorn has met with Vicksburg police chief Walter Armstrong about the center. Thorn declined to talk about his discussion with the police chief.

Armstrong said he met briefly with Thorn Monday to discuss security issues, adding he will meet with him again in the future.

An advertisement on the convention center’s website for the gathering called it a “purple party” and gave a cell phone number and told people to call “Geno” for information.

“I did everything I was supposed to do,” Genoa “Geno” Williams said. “I didn’t create any criminal acts. I crossed all my T’s and dotted all my I’s. Everything I had to do, I did. What happened, happened at 2:30. Everyone had a good time, and most of the people left at 2 o’clock.

“There were no drugs; people couldn’t even smoke a cigarette. Good people were there. One irresponsible act put a black eye on the whole event.”

Williams was indicted in May 2011 for receiving stolen property and later pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of misdemeanor receiving stolen property, according to the Warren County District Attorney’s office. He was sentenced to a suspended six-month sentence and was fined $1,000.

The 1223 Monroe St. address Williams gave on the convention center contract is the address for Headquarters Barber and Beauty Salon.

Arrested on Easter morning in the shooting inside the center was Everett Defrance, 22, 227 High Hill Drive. He was charged with firing a weapon into the ceiling of the convention center and remained in the Warren County Jail Tuesday on a $325,000 bond.

When the incident was made public two days after the shooting, Armstrong said “500-plus” people were at the party when the shot was fired.

In addition to Defrance, three other people were arrested, all on misdemeanor charges, after shots were fired outside the center as the crowd left.

Vicksburg police Capt. Bobby Stewart said three guns seized from a vehicle outside the convention center were sent to the Mississippi State Crime Lab for ballistics tests to determine if one was used to fire the shot inside the 15-year-old center. He said the police department has not received the test results.