Kansas Bar Mass Shooting Leaves 4 Dead, 5 Wounded

A mass shooting early Sunday morning at a members-only Kansas City bar for Hispanics that was more like a community center has left four persons dead and five wounded.

Eyewitness accounts and initial police reports seem to discount a racial motive in the deadly rampage at the Tequila KC bar along 10th Street and Central Avenue that erupted around 1:30 a.m. Sunday (2:20 a.m. ET) despite all those slain being Hispanic males. There were some 40 people in the bar at the time of the shooting.

The Kansas City, Kansas Police Department (KCKPD) said two men armed with handguns walked into the bar and started shooting. They also believe the shooting was sparked by an argument one of the men had with a bartender and other persons inside the club.

One eyewitness who saw the altercation later said this man, who was thrown out of the bar, later came back with another man a few hours later and that's when the deadly shooting began.

Witnesses told investigators the shooting may have been caused by an argument that occurred inside the bar hours earlier, according to KCKPD spokesman Thomas Tomasic.

“We’re trying to speak with the various witnesses that we have here trying to get stories kind of straightened out and put everything together so that we can get a good suspect description and catch these guys,” said Tomasic.

“We believe there were two suspects who came in and began firing.”

Eyewitnesses also confirmed KCKPD's account.

One of the bartenders, Jose Valdez, said the problem that led to the shooting started when he refused to serve a man that had caused problems months earlier, according to statements he made to WDAF.

Valdez said the man threw a glass at him and was thrown out of the club. He said this man and a second man came through the back door with pistols a few hours later.

"When he came in the second time he did not say nothing," said Valdez. "He just walked in and looked for who he was looking for and started shooting."

The gunfire saw customers stampede towards the exit. Police said the scene inside the bar after the shooting began was chaotic when the gunmen opened fire at about half an hour before the 2:00 a.m. closing time.

Witnesses were shocked at the suddenness of the deadly violence that seemed to erupt out of nowhere.

"None of it really seems real right now," Shay Celedon, a bar patron that left two hours before the shooting, told CNN.

"We were sitting here yesterday evening having drinks with my best friend's fiancé. I go home, go to bed, get woken up two hours later that he's deceased, and she held him till he took his last breath, and tried to bring him back and keep pressure on his gunshot wound. And it was just one fatal shot that took him from us."

KCKPD believes this is an isolated incident and "do not feel it's racially motivated," according to Tomasic.

“We do not believe it was random. We do believe it was an isolated incident. We don’t feel that these suspects are going to go out and do this again.”

KCKPD said it has photos of both shooters taken from security camera inside the club. They haven't named the suspects, but released security camera images of them.

Statements from witnesses and KCKPD confirm Tequila KC bar was always a safe and welcoming place to adults from their 20s to their 60s. The bar had a reputation as a gathering place for the community and people would come after work for a drink. Guests generally know each other and their families.

Kansas Governor Laura Kelly said the state is mourning the victims of "yet another mass shooting."

In a statement released by her office Sunday, Kelly said, "I continue to be frustrated that these mass shootings and killings occur with regular frequency. Our nation has an obligation to address this ongoing public health crisis."