Abilene police have arrested and charged a suspect in the shooting death of another man at MC Sports Bar early Sunday morning. 20-year-old Eusabio Jose Perez Jr. has been charged with first-degree murder and is in jail with bond set at $250,000.
Police were called to the bar on reports of a fight and shots fired in the area of the bar. Upon arrival, responding officers found a 27-year-old man with a gunshot wound. The victim was brought to Hendrick Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.
Four people were detained and police determined that one of those individuals was the alleged shooter.
The name of the victim has not been released.
Attorney contributor Anjali Nigam is a former prosecutor who now represents crime victims in civil cases. We've asked him to add some thoughts on bar and nightclub owner liability for shootings on their properties:
The owners of bars and all other types of property have a legal obligation to make sure their properties are safe from preventable dangers, including foreseeable violent crime. When a shooting or stabbing incident occurs at a bar or nightclub, it's important both to prosecute the perpetrator and to determine if the property owner met this legal obligation to safety. In some cases, bar and nightclub shootings only occur because of property owner negligence, such as inadequate security.
For example, a bar shooting might be considered foreseeable if it happened at a bar with a history of violent incidents. In this example, the bar owner might be deemed negligent for failure to institute security measures which could have reduced the risk of future violence, such as hiring security guards and requiring weapons searches for guests upon entry.
If you or a loved one has been injured or killed in a bar or nightclub shooting, you can learn more about your family's legal options by speaking to an experienced crime victim attorney.