Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, isn’t exactly world famous for it’s Mexican cuisine. If you have the munchies for some south of the border snacks, Antojitos Mexicanos is the place to go. One patron apparently became fatally upset when the funky music didn’t match the southwest ambiance. There are some things one simply does not do. It seems someone played something on the establishment’s jukebox that wasn’t mariachi. The clock rolled back 150 years in a single instant and it became a wild-west quick-draw shoot-out.
Shootout at Mexican Eatery
Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, may be a long way from the Mexican border but Antojitos Mexicanos was a whole lot like Tombstone’s OK Corral early Monday morning.
Back in those thrilling days of yesteryear, disputes of every kind were settled by whoever was fastest on the draw. When the other guy pulls his piece first, shooting him is self-defense, if you’re quicker.
There was a time when the quickest would make a living off assassinations. Lot’s of people would pay them to insult someone, to provoke an armed response. Then dust the guy who never stood a chance to start with.
When someone like Doc Holiday calls you a Pu$$y, the smart ones grin and say, “you are what you eat,” while keeping their hands in sight. That seems to be exactly what didn’t happen at the Mexican bar and restaurant. The September 23 shooting probably wasn’t pre-planned. More a heat-of-the-moment kind of thing.
Mauro Bonilla, who spoke to three witnesses, told reporters “I heard that there was two guys [and] they got into an argument because one of them played a song on the [jukebox] and the other guy kind of was pissed off.” That’s the general gist of it.
Around 1:30 a.m. Monday, 54-year-old Socorro Camacho told a stone cold killer “you’re not a real Mexican if you play that [jungle] music,” and pulled a piece. The other guy was faster.
Chasing him, shot after shot
Apparently, Mexican gangsters like gangster rap. “The man who slammed the other patron’s song choice pulled out his weapon first, but the target of his taunts was allegedly the one who opened fire,” Bonilla clarified.
After exchanging words, Camacho, with a gun in his hand, pushed the unknown killer to the floor. He pulled his own gun and started blasting.
“The other guy was chasing him, shot after shot,” Bonilla points out. According to the manager, the killer “ran from the scene.” He hasn’t been identified as of Tuesday. He’s also still on the loose, armed and very dangerous.
Camacho’s brother came to the Mexican restaurant looking for Socorro. When he saw all the police wandering around, he knew it wasn’t good.
“The only thing I can say is that I want police to apprehend the suspect because right now, there’s nothing else we can do.” After a night of drinking in a Mexican restaurant, it’s not a great idea to insult someone’s choice of music.
On top of that, if you’re going to pull a gun out, you better point it and pull the trigger. Before your target does the job properly. Chasing down his victim was obviously overkill. The gangster could have walked out the door after the first round. He really didn’t like the word he’d been insulted with.
