Without fanfare and with just two onlookers, a locksmith yesterday changed the lock and padlocked the gate at the Horoscope Lounge in Garfield, ending a long campaign by community activists to close the bar, site of several shootings in the last few years.

The bar, at Penn Avenue and North Graham Street, spent a decade under scrutiny by the Nuisance Bar Task Force. The police file documenting incidents and complaints there was the size of a city phone book.

A nonfatal daylight shooting outside the bar Tuesday sealed its fate, prompting a visit by Police Chief Dominic Costa and Mayor Bob O'Connor.

"Residents across the street have bullets in their homes," said City Councilman Len Bodack.

Mr. O'Connor and Mr. Bodack asked District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr. to take action to "prevent any more violence at the establishment," according to a statement from Mr. Zappala's office. The bar owner, Angelo Restano of Verona, entered a consent decree with the district attorney. The fate of Mr. Restano's liquor license is in the hands of the state Liquor Control Board.

The Nuisance Bar Task Force has helped to close 27 bars since 2001. About a dozen remain on the coalition's list of problem bars.

"We will not tolerate these establishments operating the way they have been for so long," Mr. O'Connor said. The closing "sends a strong message to other establishments to clean up their act."

Mr. Restano's attorney, Charles Caputo, declined to comment.

Aggie Brose of the Bloomfield-Garfield Corp. called yesterday "a day of celebration" and said the closing would bring "a new level of stability and security to the neighborhood," which has several development projects under way.

"There's a lot of characters out there," Ms. Brose said, including prostitutes and drug dealers. "For the last few days, the bar has been closed and it's quiet as a church mouse."

"A lot of these cats are just going to find someplace else to go," said Tait Johnson, 25, a cook at the Quiet Storm coffee house who lives a block from the bar. "It's not going to get rid of the socioeconomic disparity problems."

Sgt. James Snyder of the Allegheny County sheriff's office surveyed the premises before asking Ace Lock staffers to close it.

About 100 full liquor bottles remained behind the bar. A sign just inside the door said: "No Drugs. No Weapons. No Lottering. No Fighting. YOU WILL BE BARRED."