CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Video that's been shared more than 2,000 times on Facebook shows a fight on the patio of Smoke BBQ and Skybar during the new restaurant's soft opening inside the building that once housed the popular Fajitaville on North Beach.
At the end of the video that was posted at 1:31 a.m. Monday, two loud pops can be heard, and Corpus Christi Police Department Public Information Officer Travis Pace says he read a report that two shell casings were found at the restaurant.
When officers got there, Pace says everyone involved in the fight and possible gunfire had left, and there were no arrests or reports of injuries.
Lots of people were surprised by the video.
“It’s disheartening honestly because everyone is supposed to have fun," North Beach visitor from El Paso Blanca Murillo said. "It’s supposed to be safe. And people tend to go overboard, and that kind of ruins it for everyone else."
Smoke BBQ and Skybar hopes to be permanently open by Labor Day, but they'll have more soft openings every weekend until then.
Another person who saw the video hopes restaurant leaders and police work together in deciding the future plans for Smoke BBQ.
“I think that should be left to the authorities — investigate and find out what really happened and what really went down," North Beach visitor from Dallas Thomas Hueb said. "Then the restaurant can rethink real hard rather to open or if there was something they could do to prevent such an act."
In an effort to do that, Smoke BBQ and Skybar North Beach will have tighter security than this past weekend moving forward.
“We’ve actually secured a Corpus Christi police officer, and we’ll have three licensed level four personal protection officers to provide security to the venue for all of these weekends," general counsel for Smoke BBQ Adam Cortez said.
Like the three locations in San Antonio, Cortez says the Smoke BBQ on North Beach will also have security cameras as an added layer of customer protection.
“No one can control human behavior, and anyone who says he or she can is both a liar and a fool," he said. "But what we can do, and what we’re committed to doing, is making our venue as secure as possible. And fortunately, in our other venues, we have a proven track record of doing that, and Corpus Christi will be no different."
