Santurce establishment where a shooting was reported that left five injured was operating in violation of the use permit

The establishment Ocean Clubwhich during the early hours of Sunday was the scene of a shooting in which five people were allegedly injured, would have violated a single permit agreement with the Municipality of San Juan that, among other things, established a closing time in agreement with the newly approved Public Order Code, which will come into force on November 9.

According to a document from the Court of First Instance of San Juan, dated October 20 and signed by the judge Anthony Cuevas Ramos, An agreement is stipulated between the municipality and the owners of the Ocean Club establishment, which agreed, among other things, to:

• Operate within the hours established in the New Public Order Code, which establishes that, on Saturdays and Sundays, establishments can only operate until 2:00 am
• Include security personnel and metal detectors at the entrances to prevent the entry of firearms.
• Install security cameras that record continuously.

However, and just two days after the agreement was signed, a “story” on the establishment’s Instagram account dating from the night of the violent incident marked 3:19 am, more than an hour after the agreed closing time.

Versions found

The new day spoke with an owner of the establishment, who identified himself as Alex Castilloand assured that in his premises Security personnel were deployed at the entrance, although they could not verify whether, in fact, metal detectors were installed as required by the agreement.

For his part, the commissioner of the San Juan Municipal Police, Jose Juan Garcia Diazassured that The establishment only has one security camera, which points towards the business’s cash register, and no additional equipment that records the rest of the facilities.

According to Garcia Diaz, the establishment also kept open a space on the second floor that was not supposed to be operating, since it did not comply with several of the permits required by law and even had complaints from the Puerto Rico Fire Department. which led to an eviction of the establishment on May 21.

“What the judge did was lower some stipulations and extend the opportunity for the person to make the arrangements they have to make there, which is why they failed to comply because on Friday itself, for Saturday, it was operating, and Sunday.”said the commissioner about the agreement signed on October 20.

He also reported that the owner of the establishment claims that he has a security team, “but in that place we have seized firearms on several occasions and have filed cases.”

For Garcia Diaz, the owner of the establishment must be responsible for the people injured in the event reported early Sunday morning.

“He (Castillo) should be responsible, first for allowing armed people and, second, because he breached the agreement that was made”he sentenced.

For his part, the owner of the premises assured that he heard a person firing shots, but there was only one gunshot wound and the others were affected by glass bottles.

“There was a person shooting, I’m not sure if he came from outside running, if he snuck in (and entered),” said the businessman.

He added that “What happens is that the Police like to do this type of thing… like add things. I have been in this type of environment for more than 20 years and it almost always happens that the news that the Police (report) is almost never like that.”

Municipality anticipates the closure of the premises

Given the failure to comply with the agreement, and after the incident on Sunday, the Municipality of San Juan, through written statements from its spokesperson, Elliot Rivera, announced The new day that, because they do not have the legal authority to close the premises, They would be filing a contempt motion before the court to request “the immediate and irrevocable closure of the establishment’s permit.”.

“We deeply regret these events,” the city council added in the letter.

Although the incident occurred in the early hours of Sunday, the establishment has already been the scene of other events, such as an eviction last May, during the birthday celebration of a reggaeton exponent identified as Luar la L.

At that time, the Fire Commissioner, Marcos Concepcion Tiradohad stated that the nightclub incurred several violations of the fire prevention code, including overfilling the establishment, having problems in the electrical system and having only one entrance and exit to the second floor.

“These clients were exposing their lives”Concepcion Tirado then stated.

Likewise, in similar situations, the Municipality of San Juan faced, in May, a controversy for not closing an establishment called “Emo-Y”, on Loiza Street, in Santurce, where two Peruvian tourists died in the middle of an exchange of shots.

The new day revealed that “Emo-Y” did not comply with the permits required to operate the establishment and, although the San Juan Municipal Police had intervened with the establishment the same night of the incident, its closure could not be ordered until days after the deaths.