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TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — A 22-year-old man is in custody after a deadly shooting at a sports bar in Ybor City on Saturday, police said.
Shortly after 2:15 a.m., two groups outside Flexx Sports Bar and Ultra Lounge, who did not know each other, were arguing, and the man was kicked off of the property for his behavior.
Authorities say he came back with a gun, got into another argument, and shots were fired.
A 30-year-old man was taken to the hospital and later died.
Another man was injured in the altercation and had non-life-threatening injuries.
Police confirmed the 22-year-old man was the shooter and taken into custody.
The shooting happened as Tierra Jones of Toledo, Ohio, was celebrating her birthday in Ybor City with two friends.
“We didn’t come here for this, but I would just kind of have a good time just to hear something happen as soon as you leave a place. It’s just unheard of,” Jones said.
She said she and her friends were at another establishment when the server recommended, they go to the sports bar.
“[They said] You’re going to get some older people, you’re going to get tourists, and we knew it was going to be a mix of people, but we did not expect at all that it was going to be a shooting,” Jones said.
Jones said the three were later notified of the tragedy.
“One of our friends told us that it had been a shooting and that somebody had got shot in the head and was murdered,” Jones said.
Jones’ friend Arielle Gray said she was thankful the group had already left.
“We were gone away from there for about an hour, so we could have been in the mix,” Gray said.
Tampa Police Chief Lee Bercaw said officers were on scene when the shooting happened.
“This shooting happened with officers in plain view. This reckless behavior is not acceptable within our community,” Bercaw said in a statement.
Gray said the violence across the nation has become discouraging.
“This has been an issue for a long time. I know people want to try to put things in place, but I honestly don’t know what the fix can be for these types of situations,” Gray said.
Officials said the shooter is cooperating in the investigation but have not yet identified him nor the deceased victim.