Weather | Sports | Forums | Comics | Classifieds | Calendar | Movies

Suspects sought in shooting that killed 4 at bar

Four men died and one was injured at Cruz Ranch bar and grill on Saturday.

CLEWISTON - Sheriff's deputies sought arrest warrants Monday for two people believed to have been involved in gunfire at a rural bar early Saturday that left four men dead and a fifth hospitalized.

The shooting broke out during an argument at the Cruz Ranch bar and grill along a thinly built stretch of U.S. 27 in Hendry County, just a few feet south of the Glades County line, sheriff's Sgt. Susan Harrelle said. Officials refused to name the suspects.

Pablo Tapia Chavez, 34, Francisco Tapia Juarez, 24, Alberto Tapia Ortiz, 30, and Tomas Tapia Juarez, age unknown, were killed. The identity of the hospitalized victim was not released.

Sheriff's deputies and agents from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement recovered a 9mm semiautomatic handgun and a .380-caliber semiautomatic gun, along with two vehicles, Harrelle said.

Investigators declined to say how many shots were fired and said they did not know what started the confrontation.

The victims were from the rural area southwest of Lake Okeechobee surrounded by sugar cane fields and orange groves. Pablo Tapia Chavez was employed with the Seminole Tribe and at least one of the victims, Francisco Tapia Juarez, was employed at Sugarland Harvesting, Harrelle said.

Sheriff's deputies would not release any more details, including whether the four men were related.

On Monday, caution tape surrounded the bar and it remained closed. The red and green painted patio where the shooting occurred had been cleared of any signs of the confrontation. Behind it, some brown and white goats grazed in a fenced yard, near a sign reading "Animal Sales."

Nelson Cruz, the owner's brother, said he was inside the bar when the trouble began around 1:45 a.m. Saturday and did not see what happened.

"I was in the kitchen putting beers into the fridge when I heard the shots," Cruz told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel on Sunday. "I threw myself on the floor because you never know what will happen when the bullets start to fly."