Several people were hit with non-lethal rounds after at least four LGBTQ bars were shot at with a pellet gun early Saturday morning.
According to San Diego Police, they received reports of a pellet gun being fired out of a vehicle just after 1 a.m. Saturday morning. As of Sunday evening, the locations police could confirm were shot by the assailant were Rich’s, The Rail, #1 on Fifth Avenue and PECS in the Hillcrest and North Park neighborhoods. Witnesses told CBS 8 it appeared to be a BMW, but police have not released an official suspect or vehicle description.
CBS 8 spoke with victims from Rich’s and The Rail after the incidences. They said they’re glad it wasn’t worse.
Eddie Reynoso is a host at Rich’s. He was standing outside and turned when he heard someone yelling expletives at the patrons outside the bar. Reynoso saw what he believed to be an AK-47 and hear myriad rounds being shot off.
He tried to crouch but it was too late.
“I get hit directly in the eye,” he said. ” I feel something kinda like explode almost like something popped. And by then I was already falling to the ground. In my mind, I thought I just got shot through the eye and my eye just flew out.”
He said it wasn’t the first time Rich has been the target of a crime like this. And he’s confident it won’t be the last.
A man named Abel was also hit with at least five pellets at Rich’s. He said he’s glad everyone is safe.
“It was still scary,” he said. “It was traumatic.”
Donny Hurry is a security guard at The Rail. He said he saw someone shooting out of the car’s back window. The suspect started shooting at him, and he ducked into the building before he realized it wasn’t a real gun.
Hurry had been hit in the arms and back multiple times but tried to run back out to get a description of the suspect of the vehicle.
Stefano Contreras was outside of The Rail early Saturday morning. He said he was smoking outside when he felt the rounds hit his back and skin his eyebrow.
Izan Corso who was also at The Rail that night said this was a violation of a safe space for the LGBTQ community.
“This is obviously a safe space,” he said. “So the fact that people can just come in from outside and sort of make it feel unsafe is just unfortunate.“
It is unknown at this time if the non-lethal rounds were bearing balls or paintballs. San Diego Police are investigating the myriad incidences from Saturday morning. Officials cannot say yet whether this was related to anti-LGBTQ political beliefs.
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