SAN ANTONIO – A Sunday night shooting that claimed the lives of two people and left several others injured at a downtown bar is calling into question security measures at places like bars and concert venues.
Kiernan Christopher Williams, 19, was arrested and charged with capital murder in connection with the shooting.
Chad Carey, owner of music venue Paper Tiger — which is on the St. Mary’s strip — said he and his staff work hard to keep their customers and their employees safe.
"It sounds like a cliché, but safety is really the most important thing," Carey said. "We're in the business — at Paper Tiger — of helping people have a good time, whether that's a rock ‘n’ roll show, a hip hop show or an EDM dance party thing. We want people to have a great time, but making sure they do it safely is really important."
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Carey said the venue has security at every single show, no matter how small the crowd.
"Depending on what kind of show, there have been shows in the past where — depending on the promoter, depending on the artist — we've wanded people down, had pat-downs and things like that," Carey said. "A lot of it depends on what the artists' demands are."
Carey said he knows the owners of Ventura bar, which is where the shooting happened Sunday. He said what happened at the venue was just horrible.
"They're passionate about giving artists in San Antonio a place to perform," Carey said. "And to see that happen despite their best efforts — the folks that run Ventura are great people. They do a wonderful job doing it. It's the sort of thing that could happen anywhere. I don't mean any music venue. It could happen at any place."
Carey said Ventura had security at its show the night of the shooting.
"Unfortunately, I don't know if that's the sort of thing that anyone can prevent totally from happening. We take precautions as I'm sure everybody else does,” he said.
Carey said another security precaution is that Paper Tiger does not allow backpacks. He also said he doesn’t plan on changing the security measures that are already in place.
