At least two LGBTQ+ hot spots in Hillcrest were the targets this weekend of drive-by pellet gun shootings that injured employees, San Diego police confirmed.
Just after midnight Saturday, the suspect or suspects fired pellets out of a vehicle toward The Rail bar and Rich’s nightclub, on 5th Avenue and University Avenue respectively. San Diego police are now investigating the incidents and whether two other locations may have also been targeted.
Surveillance video provided to NBC 7 by The Rail shows the moment their security guard was shot in the arm by a pellet. Isaac Vargas, the owner of the bar, said the incident immediately sent their staff into defensive mode.
“So as soon as that happened, we’re like OK. Shut down the patio and get everybody inside,” Vargas said.
No one else was injured in that incident, but police say it was one of at least two targeted pellet gun attacks on businesses in Hillcrest, the center of San Diego’s LGBTQ+ community. Just a few minutes later, San Diego police confirmed, Rich’s nightclub was also targeted.
The nightclub’s owner, Ryan Bedrosian, said several of his staff members were struck by projectiles, including Eddie Reynoso, who was struck near the eye. Surveillance video provided to NBC 7 by Rich’s captured the moment.
“They were driving by pretty fast, but they also slowed down. I saw two people hanging out the window, it appeared as if one of them may have been recording, Reynoso said. “That’s kind of what caught my attention and when I looked at the backseat, I just saw someone holding like an automatic gun and my reaction was to crouch, but by then, it was too late, you know. They had already fired and you could hear the noise, a ‘pop, pop, pop, pop, pop.’”
Moments later he said he felt something explode, fell to the ground and thought he had been shot.
“You know, your head kind of flies kind of backwards with something like that and you just assume the worst,” Reynoso said.
Reynoso remembers people rushing to help him.
“The whole time I’m just thinking whatever I felt explode, I thought it was my eye and it’s just a frightening feeling,” Reynoso said.
He is grateful that his vision was not damaged.
“It could have been worse, you know, I could have had major eye damage,” Reynoso said.
Reynoso wants those responsible to consider the consequences of their actions.
“You really have to think of the consequences something can go wrong in the blink of an eye. I mean no pun intended. Something can go wrong really, really quickly, and it could have major effects on multiple people, on yourself, the individual you shot, but also on your family,” he said.
San Diego Police is asking anyone with information to call their non-emergency line at 619-531-2000. Authorities have not yet determined a motive for the shootings or determined whether the attacks were targeting LGBTQ+ businesses.
