Security company loses license after shooting outside Denver bar kills 1
Denver CO June 4 2023 The executive director of the Department of Excise and Licenses revoked the private security guard license of company J&M Security for employing unlicensed guards after a shooting at a bar staffed by their guards.
The shooting happened on Jan. 9 at Lempira Night Club at 1452 Uinta St. in Denver at around 12:30 a.m.
A conflict broke out between patrons in the bar and spilled out onto the street, according to the final decision letter.
Four security guards were provided by J&M Security that evening and only one of them, Katie Diaz, had the correct license and endorsements to be an armed security guard.
Dante Pacheco-Rodriguez, Royce Parker and Lacy Smith were armed and working as security without licenses, according to the decision letter. None of the four were wearing the approved J&M Security uniform.
One patron attempted to flee the scene in a red pickup truck.
At 12:31 a.m., police said, the suspect, Pacheco-Rodriguez, fired at the truck about three times.
At 12:35 a.m., police said, all five people were in the truck, and the driver began pulling away, headed southbound. Pacheco-Rodriguez fired about three more shots at the truck as it left, police said.
The truck stopped about a block away on Uinta Street. When police arrived, they found the victim on the ground near the truck. He had a single gunshot wound to his torso, police said. He was taken to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
The victim was identified as 34-year-old Byron Garcia Ramirez, according to Denver Gazette news partner 9News.
Police said it appears the victim was driving the truck, and the gunshot hit him in the back as he drove away.
Police said no one else in the truck was hit by the shots.
Parker and Smith are accused of shooting at a patron with rubber bullets and collecting shell casings for the bullets fired during the incident. Diaz fired her handgun in the air once in an effort to “spook them or something,” according to the decision letter.
Unlike other cities in Colorado, Denver requires a license for both security guards and the companies that employ them.
The business had prior issues with the department, with previous documents reporting the restaurant providing alcohol to minors and hiring previous security guards who did not meet city requirements to have a license, according to documents provided by the department.
The director of the Department of Excise and Licenses, Molly Duplechian, announced a final decision regarding the company’s future Friday, declaring that J&M Security’s private security employer license is revoked.
Vigua LLC, doing business as Restaurante Lempira, reached a settlement agreement with the department, voluntarily surrendering their Dance Cabaret license, paying a $1,000 fine and closing the premise for 90 days starting May 15.
The company is able to keep its hotel and restaurant license assuming they don’t violate the terms of the settlement agreement.
