Doral police sue martini bar owner and security company months after mass shooting

FL. – Two Doral City Police officers have filed suit against the owner of Martini Bar Doral and a private security company after Mass shooting almost three months ago One officer was seriously injured and a private security guard was killed, according to court documents obtained by Local 10 News on Tuesday.

The shooting occurred on April 6 at the Martini Bar in Optional extraslocated at 3450 NW 83rd Ave.

Prosecutors said Doral police officers Andre A. Romo and Ricardo A. Acevedo were off-duty patrolling the area when an argument broke out involving 37-year-old Jamal Wayne Wood, who entered the bar with a gun.

Authorities confirmed that Wood began shooting at guests, resulting in the death of a security guard and injuries to seven others, including the two police officers who responded to the call. Wood also died at the scene.

The lawsuit filed on Monday alleges that the 23-year-old security guard who was killed George Alejandro CastellanosFather of one child, had not received adequate safety training after being hired.

The lawsuit alleges that the nightclub’s owners had a “responsibility to protect individuals by thoroughly searching patrons for weapons before allowing them entry.”

Both officers are seeking more than $50,000 in damages, plus attorneys’ fees and costs, according to court documents.

“While our duty as police officers is to protect and serve, our own lives must also be protected. I am incredibly lucky to be alive,” Acevedo said in a press release Tuesday.

“Due to a completely preventable incident and simple safety measures, I almost didn’t make it home to my wife and children,” Romo also said in the press release.

“If appropriate security measures had been taken, the lives of those present, including Officers Romo and Acevedo, would not have been in danger,” said Bernardo Pimentel, the trial attorney at Leesfield & Partners, who filed the lawsuit on behalf of the officers.

The Castellanos family had already filed suit against the same owners shortly after the incident.

The ongoing legal proceedings bring to the fore “concerns about safety protocols and responsibilities in nightclubs,” the Castellanos family’s lawyers said in April.

Acevedo’s lawyers have also released photos of the injuries he sustained in the shooting, which you can see below.

Read the court documents here: