FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – A fatal shooting caused panic and chaos on Tuesday at the Shooters Waterfront, a popular laid-back restaurant along Fort Lauderdale’s Intracoastal Waterway.
The shooter has since been identified as 33-year-old Angel Candelaria.
According to Peter Lopez, the restaurant’s director of operations, a former and a current employee were involved. A witness who did not want to be identified said it all started when the two engaged in a heated argument at the restaurant’s tiki bar.
“I told the guys to, ‘Take it down!’ You know what I mean? Customers were starting to pay attention and it was getting a little rowdy, so I said, ‘Can you take it to the end of the bar?’ I go inside the building and I come back and I see one running — the other one down, fighting for his life.”
Carlos Murgas, a Shooter’s employee, said he was in the kitchen when he saw people running near the intersection of Northeast 32nd Avenue and Northeast 30th Court. Witnesses said the shooting was on the south side of the tiki bar, next to the Grateful Palate Catering & Events, the restaurant’s catering arm.
“There was a bunch of blood everywhere, people trying to resuscitate him,” Murgas said, adding the victim was someone he respected and knew he could learn a lot from.
A witness recorded cellphone video showing officers swarm the area and people screaming and running. Battalion Chief Stephen Gollan, a spokesman for Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue, said paramedics responded shortly after 4 p.m. The victim died in the hospital.
The SWAT team also responded. There were snipers and officers searching for the gunman. Another video shows people hiding in a neighboring building out of fear that the shooter could target them.
Officers arrested Candelaria at about 6 p.m., at 2400 E. Commercial Blvd., according to Detective Ali Adamson, a spokesperson for the Fort Lauderdale Police Department.
“It was a very dangerous situation,” Adamson said.
Candelaria, a former Shooters Waterfront employee, was at the Broward Main Jail facing a first-degree murder charge.
Although Shooters is now closed until further notice, some of the victim’s co-workers went back to the business Wednesday morning to create a memorial in honor of the victim.
6 p.m. report