Police have named a man who fatally shot a security guard and wounded a police officer at a Florida bar early Saturday morning, while an investigation is underway into how six bystanders were injured, one critically.
Jamal Wayne Wood, 37, shot and killed security guard George Alejandro Castellanos, 23, at Martini Bar in the city of Doral, some 17 miles west of Miami, Miami-Dade police said in a statement Sunday.
Wood was shot and killed in the firefight.
At least six bystanders, two women and four men, were treated at hospitals — five were in stable condition, and one was in critical, police said.
Wood opened fire and killed security guard Castellanos after an argument broke out, police said, an act that has left his family "devastated."
His mother, Jeanina Castellanos, told NBC South Florida that her son was father to a 2-year-old girl and was due to graduate from college.
"We're broken right now, totally broken," she said.
Two so-far unidentified police officers from the City of Doral Police Department responded to the scene, police said. The officer who was shot "in his lower extremities" was in a stable condition.
The officer, who has four years of service, applied a tourniquet on himself immediately after being struck, Doral Police Chief Edwin Lopez said during a news conference Sunday.
One bar patron spoke of the terror during the early morning incident. "You start thinking, 'Is this going to be the end? Am I going to die here?'" witness Peter Jordan told NBC South Florida.
Video of the aftermath of the shooting showed victims being treated on the sidewalk outside the bar.
It is unclear whether any bystanders were injured by police gunfire. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement said it was investigating the police shooting. "As the investigation is ongoing, it is too early to determine how the bystanders were injured," the department said in a statement.
"As the security guard, that is employed by the business, intervened, the subject produced a firearm and shot him. Two uniformed officers from the City of Doral Police Department immediately responded and there was an exchange of gunfire with the subject. The subject was fatally shot and one officer sustained a gunshot wound to his lower extremity." the police statement said.
Police identified the injured as Lester Williams Gonzalez, 28; Frank Miguel Jerez, 34; Yaniris Jerez, 30; Carlos Milan, 38; Sonia Munoz Torres, 48; and Gerard Patrick Delaney, 57.
“Our hearts are broken by the tragedy that unfolded at our venue early this morning that took the life of a dedicated security guard and injured several others,” the owners of the Martini Bar said in a statement, according to NBC South Florida.
Lopez said the incident marked "an extremely disappointing day in our community."
Coincidentally, on Friday Doral Police held an active shooter drill training session at City Place Doral, where the Martini bar is. Lopez said that training was responsible for saving lives on Saturday.
City Mayor Christi Fraga has called for a special meeting next week to address nightclub violence.
