What some people called a birthday party and concert on Saturday night at the King Tut Hookah Lounge & Café ended with gunfire and one man dead. Police say the victim was in his early twenties.
Bakersfield Police officers say there were close to 300 people in the parking lot. Police found the victim in front of the lounge with a gunshot wound in his head. He was taken to Kern Medical Center where he was pronounced dead.
Police say witnesses saw two men take off after shots were fired.
"The only suspect information that we have is just a black male, and it appears that this is probably gang related,” says Sgt. Martin Heredia of Bakersfield Police Department.
And this isn't the first shooting at a hookah lounge in Bakersfield this year. Officers said a fight led to gunfire at Hookah and Cigar Lounge on California Avenue on April 8. One man was taken to the hospital with several gunshot wounds. The gunfire damaged windows of businesses and cars in the area.
Police say the King Tut shooting isn't the first time there has been gunfire at the lounge on Panama Lane. Local business owners say the lounge stays open until 4 a.m. on Friday and Saturday nights and is open to 18-year-olds.
“In the past, we've had sporadic calls for service at this location with the same type of incident that happened tonight as far as a peace disturbance and loitering,” Sgt. Heredia says. “We have received shots fired from this location in the past, but to my knowledge, this is the first time we've actually had a victim of a shooting here."
If you know anything about the shooting, police ask that you call Bakersfield Police at 327-7111 or Detective Cox at 326-3514.
