Latest news with #ElCamaronGigante
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Yahoo
3 Phoenix-area bar shootings in May have left 4 dead and communities reeling
A series of shootings at local bars in May have rattled people across metro Phoenix. The shootings have been in three different cities and different settings. One was at a longtime student haunt nestled in a Tempe neighborhood. Another was at a Glendale restaurant open for about a year near the historic downtown. The third was in a Peoria strip mall off a major roadway. They led to the deaths of four people and injured several more. Linda Hubbard, who lives in a house behind the Peoria strip mall where the latest shooting occurred, was surprised to hear of the incident, saying the bar was usually a quiet spot except for the occasional drunk, disorderly person or a loud car. "Every now and then, somebody will come around from the bar and walk down the street, and you can hear a ruckus on the corner over here," Hubbard said. "But as a rule, that bar is pretty quiet. People over there, they don't branch out into the neighborhood." A fight led to a shooting May 3 outside Casey Moore's Oyster House in Tempe, police said. Dakota Barnes, 30, was leaving the establishment when another man punched him in the head, according to court records. Barnes responded by shooting the man in the stomach, the records said. When a neighbor came outside with a cell phone, Barnes threatened the neighbor to put the phone away or he would "come back," according to court records. When Barnes tried to leave with his girlfriend, the man who was shot jumped on the hood of Barnes' car, but the car swerved, and the man fell off, the records said. Barnes was arrested and faced multiple felony charges. On May 4, a mariscos and steak restaurant on the edge of historic downtown Glendale, less than a block away from police headquarters, became the scene of a mass shooting that killed three people and injured several others. Police say a fight broke out at a dance party on the patio of El Camaron Gigante as it was winding down. The event was thrown by On A Sunday Afternoon, a lifestyle brand founded by Bobby Luera. Security removed the people involved in the fight. Soon after, gunfire erupted. Brothers Damien Anthony Sproule, 17, and Christopher Juaquin Sproule, 21, as well as Milo Christopher Suniga, 21, were killed, according to police. Family members said the brothers were at the event to make friends with fellow lowrider fans. Suniga's cousin, Veronica Tarango, told The Arizona Republic at a community vigil on May 6 that he was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time, caught in the crossfire. Suniga wasn't a violent or confrontational person, she said. Five people were injured: two men, 20 and 23; two women, 20 and 21; and a 16-year-old boy, police said. A shoot-out at a Peoria sports bar killed one man and injured another person May 20. Police officers were dispatched to the Deli Sports Bar, near the Loop 101 Agua Fria Freeway and Peoria Avenue, at about 11:30 p.m. for a disorderly conduct call. Dispatchers could hear a man on the call arguing with a bar employee who refused to serve him. The man, later identified as 46-year-old Mario Franco from El Mirage, was refused service due to extreme intoxication, police said. Franco went to the parking lot, retrieved a firearm from his vehicle and fired into the air several times before shooting into the business, police said. One bar patron was injured. Franco then pointed the firearm at a couple sitting on a park bench outside the bar, police said. The parties began firing back and forth, according to police. Franco was struck and treated for his injuries, but he was pronounced dead at the scene. Republic reporters Jose R. Gonzalez, Helen Rummel and Wren Smetana contributed to this article. This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Phoenix-area bar shootings in May have left 4 dead, many reeling
Yahoo
10-05-2025
- Yahoo
This man captured 2 key moments on video from the El Camaron Gigante shooting in Glendale
He was walking through the patio area of El Camaron Gigante, filming the cleanup after the dance party. The event had ended early, not due to the rain, but because of a fight that broke out in the crowd. That's when Derek Molina heard the gunshots. They were coming from the parking lot. He began shouting for people to get down and take cover. As he ducked for safety himself, his thumb hit the record button on his iPhone, capturing the moment on video. Molina, 39, who posts video on his NinoBoyTV Instagram channel, didn't initially realize he was recording. But once he did realize it, Molina kept recording. Molina inadvertently recorded two key moments of the May 4 shooting at El Camaron Gigante near downtown Glendale, an incident that left three people dead. The shooting occurred during a monthly outdoor dance event and community fair known as On A Sunday Afternoon. He captured a fight inside the event that police believe led to the later gunplay. Molina also captured the sounds of the gunfire and its aftermath, including him running to aid a victim. Molina, in an interview with The Arizona Republic, said after a second barrage of shots, he noticed the entrance gate to the patio of the El Camaron Gigante restaurant was still open. He shouted at someone to close it. He then moved behind a cart that had served as a bar and took cover. Molina briefly set his phone on the bar, using the camera like a periscope to get a glimpse of what was happening while he stayed low. There was a pause in the shots. Though Molina said he wasn't sure if the incident was over. Then he spotted a man stumbling near a row of portable toilets. 'He's hit. He's hit,' Molina says in the video. 'Call 911.' The man was leaning against a wall writhing in pain. Molina said he was still in the line of fire should a bullet come through the open gate. He helped lift the man and guide him behind a wall, shouting for others to move aside. Someone handed Molina a T-shirt, and another person gave him a sweater. 'I twisted it up as tight as I could above the wound,' he said. 'I had him put pressure on it.' Two women who told Molina they were training to be nurses stepped in and took over tending to the injured man. Molina said he saw no blood gushing. He saw that as a positive sign that maybe the bullet had passed through. Molina went outside the grounds to alert someone about the injured man. The scene, he said, was 'people screaming and chaos and all that.' He didn't go far before he saw a person on the ground who wasn't moving. Molina said he moved quickly through the scene until he found a paramedic. That person got the attention of a police officer who walked with Molina back to the injured man. The man was in pain, but didn't appear in serious medical trouble. The man had been in the portable restroom when a bullet punctured it and hit him in the rear, Molina said. The two talked and eventually found dark humor in the situation:. 'It put a smile on his face,' he said. Eventually, police started clearing the scene and ordering everyone to go home. When Molina got home, he said he started reviewing the video he shot. 'At first I didn't want to put it up,' he said. Then he learned the ages of the victims — two were 21, and one was just 17. Two of them, including the 17-year-old, were brothers. 'That changed my perspective,' he said. 'That changed the narrative.' He decided to post the two videos in case it helped police figure out what happened. His instinct was right. Glendale police later asked for the public's help in identifying three individuals described as 'persons of interest.' The photos released by the department appeared to be taken from the NinoBoyTV video showing the fight inside the event. Molina didn't post all of the video he shot. He said police have not contacted him asking to review his footage. During the On A Sunday Afternoon event, Molina was onstage filming people dancing when the fight broke out in the crowd. His video showed a woman appearing to shout for security to remove four men. A man standing behind the woman appears to throw an object at the four men. One of them runs toward him. Molina said he didn't think the fight was notable. 'It was a fight that went on,' he said. 'OK. Cool. And everyone just goes on their merry way.' Police later stated that the two groups involved had a history of 'bad blood,' and that the altercation at the OASA event ultimately escalated into the gunfire outside the venue. Glendale police said that as of May 9 there were no arrests in the shooting. Molina did not know anyone involved in the fight during the event. He did not know the victims who died. He did not know the man he tended to. Though, he said, the two were connected through social media. The man Molina helped posted on Instagram that he was 'recovering well each day that passes and I'll be back on my feet within time.' The Republic was not able to reach that man for comment. Glendale police did not release his name, nor any of the injured individuals. Molina said he was glad to have helped. 'I didn't think anything was going through my mind at that moment but to get that person out of the way,' he said. He also keeps thinking of those who died that day. 'If I could go back to that moment, if I could go back to that night,' he said. 'I would give my life for these kids to go home.' Seeking information: Glendale police want to talk to these people about mass shooting at restaurant This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: His camera was recording when shots broke out in downtown Glendale
Yahoo
08-05-2025
- Yahoo
Glendale mass shooting: Persons of interest wanted for questioning
The Brief The Glendale Police Department is looking for three people who might have information on the May 4 mass shooting at El Camaron Gigante Mariscos & Steakhouse. Investigators stress that these people are not suspects. Three people died in this shooting and five others were hurt. GLENDALE, Ariz. - The Glendale Police Department released photos of people who might be critical in helping solve the May 4 mass shooting at a restaurant. Persons of interest in the Glendale shooting on May 4. Photos courtesy of the Glendale Police Department What they're saying "Earlier today, we met with the case agent and Homicide Supervisors, they have asked us to share the following images of 3 individuals, investigators wish to speak with. To be clear, these individuals are persons of interest, NOT SUSPECTS, and we believe they may have vital information important to this case," the police department said on May 7. What we know The shooting happened at El Camaron Gigante Mariscos & Steakhouse near SR 51 and 57th Avenue around 7:45 p.m. Three people died and five people were hurt in the shooting that spilled out into the parking lot. What you can do Anyone with information on the shooting is asked to call Glendale Police at 623-930-3000 or Silent Witness at 480-WITNESS. Click here to submit information through Glendale PD's portal. Map of where the shooting happened:
Yahoo
08-05-2025
- Yahoo
Glendale police want to talk to these people about mass shooting at restaurant
Glendale police asked the public on May 7 to help detectives identify three people who were present for a mass shooting that killed three and injured five at El Camaron Gigante, which is roughly a block away from the city's historic downtown, on May 4. Before the shooting, hundreds of people were attending a dance party on the restaurant's patio. The event had been put on by On A Sunday Afternoon, a Chicano lifestyle and clothing brand that regularly organized dance events. The department published two pictures capturing three people. Officer Moroni Mendez, a department spokesperson, said homicide supervisors asked for the images of the people to be shared because they believed the people pictured possessed important information related to their case. Mendez said the people police were searching for were not suspects. Mendez asked anyone who recognized any of the people pictured to contact police by calling the department's nonemergency number at 623-930-3000. Calls can be made anonymously through Silent Witness at 480-948-6377. The department's May 7 appeal to the public wasn't its first. Glendale police spokesperson Jose Santiago previously encouraged anyone with information about the incident to anonymously upload any videos or photos they had of the incident to a web portal. Anyone with verbal tips could call the department's nonemergency number, Santiago said. Glendale police asked the public on May 7 to help detectives identify three people who were present for a mass shooting that killed three and injured five at El Camaron Gigante restaurant on May 4. They were not suspects, police said, but may have important information. Glendale police asked the public on May 7 to help detectives identify three people who were present for a mass shooting that killed three and injured five at El Camaron Gigante restaurant on May 4. They were not suspects, police said, but may have important information. Persons of interest appear in videos posted to social media In video footage posted online, the woman police designated as the first person of interest can be seen pointing to a group of men and calling security over. As security arrives and separates her from the group of men, the person labeled as the second person of interest can be seen throwing an object, possibly a bottle, at the men she was pointing out. This confrontation drew the attention of the disc jockeys on stage, who stopped the music. The event organizer, Bobby Luera, can be heard on the video using a microphone on the stage to ask for calm, and then ending the event after the object is thrown. The man police labeled as the third person of interest appears on video talking to at least one of the men from the group the woman pointed out as security escorted him towards the exit. Videos posted to social media capturing the incident depict a chaotic scene with some people pushing and striking each other. One video shows a crowd chanting 'beat it' as security separates the participants of a fight and removes them from the area. Questions about Glendale shooting remain as days pass Glendale police's latest appeal came three days after the fatal shooting killed brothers Damien Anthony Sproule, 17, and Christopher Juaquin Sproule, 21, as well as Milo Christopher Suniga, 21. Stephanie Ortega and Regenea LaRoche Sproule, the mother and stepmother of Damien and Christopher, respectively, said the brothers were looking to meet people who were also interested in cars. 'They were out there trying to make friends from the lowrider community,' Sproule said. 'Because they had just gotten their own lowriders and they wanted to fix them up, so they needed to make friends.' Veronica Tarango, Suniga's cousin, the third person who died in the shooting, told The Arizona Republic at a community vigil on May 6 that he was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time, caught in the crossfire. Suniga wasn't a violent or confrontational person, she said. This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Glendale police want to talk to these people about mass shooting
Yahoo
06-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
3 shot dead and 5 injured in Glendale is no reason to expect gun reform
Not every instance of gun violence warrants an immediate call for gun reform, including the multiple killings that happened in Glendale on May 4. I know. That is a terrible thing to say. But it's true. Three people were killed. Five others were injured. Families and friends have been left grief-stricken and traumatized. It was awful. It was tragic. But it wasn't the kind of incident — at least from what authorities have said so far — that cries out for new legislation. No more so than the three other mass shootings that occurred that day in different parts of the country, as catalogued by the Gun Violence Archive. As Giffords knows, 'It does not have to be this way' Or the 100 mass shootings that have occurred in the U.S. so far this year. Or the nearly 5,000 firearms deaths, and we're not even six months into the year. Police are calling what happened in Glendale an isolated incident driven by 'bad blood' between those involved in the gunplay. It happened during a Cinco de Mayo party at the restaurant El Camarón Gigante, attended by a couple of hundred people. A fight started inside, where police say the first shots were fired, then ramped up in the parking lot, where deadly gunfire was exchanged. Former Arizona U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, a victim of gun violence, tweeted afterward, 'Another celebration devastated by gun violence, this time in our home state, at a Cinco de Mayo party in Glendale, Arizona. My heart breaks for the Arizonans impacted. It does not have to be this way.' Ansari is right about support for gun law reform Arizona U.S. Rep. Yassamin Ansari chimed in, issuing a statement that read, 'For too long, Americans have been forced to watch as gun violence affects every corner of our communities — schools, movie theaters, places of worship, and local restaurants like El Camaron Gigante. 'Common sense policy reform to regulate guns has broad, bipartisan support. It's long past time we stand up and do something." Giffords is correct, of course. It doesn't have to be this way. Opinion: Guns or kids? Arizona stubbornly refuses to protect the right one But it took a long time for it to get this way, and whether we like it or not, gun violence like this has become accepted. Even worse, expected. Ansari also is correct, sort of. Polls consistently show there is widespread support for things like universal background checks, 'red-flag' laws, restrictions on large capacity magazines and assault weapons. But we don't know yet whether any of those reforms, if in place, would have changed anything in Glendale. Gun death statistics should horrify us. They don't We do know, however, that public calls for changes in gun laws after every shooting are now so predictable that they are ignored. It may be the opposite of offering 'thoughts and prayers,' but it gets the same reaction. Nothing. Here's why: More than 31,000 Americans died by firearms in 2024. Among the victims, 250 were children younger than 11. More than 1,000 were between 12 and 17. Seventy-five were police officers. Numbers like that should horrify us. But they don't. Numbers like that should have us electing a majority of politicians hellbent on reducing those casualties. But we don't. Reach Montini at Like this column? Get more opinions in your email inbox by signing up for our free opinions newsletter, which publishes Monday through Friday. This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Glendale shooting doesn't make the case for gun control | Opinion
