2 killed in shooting at strip club

Two people were fatally shot in a burst of gunfire early Sunday at a west Houston strip club.

Just before 6 a.m., a disagreement between two groups of patrons sparked a massive brawl inside Fantasy Island Club in the 12900 block of Westheimer near Ashford Oak, according to a witness who asked not to be identified.

The dispute started near the bar, but the club owner tried to intervene and push people outside as things got heated.

But the efforts to calm the crowd did not work, and a cluster of at least 10 men ended up fighting in the club.

“It was a large, large group, and once one got mad, it just got out of control,” said the witness. “It escalated so quickly.”

At one point, the clubgoer saw two men sparring and watched one brandish a gun and shoot the other.

“Then another man came in the club — and (he) fired about six or seven shots,” the witness said. “Then it went crazy. Everyone started running here and there, and then the gunman ran out of the club.”

When Houston Police Department officers and Harris County Precinct 5 Constable’s deputies arrived on the scene, they found two bodies.

One was of 25-year-old German Pacheco, the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences said Monday.

Friends identified the other victim as Donnie Gibbs, and although the medical examiner confirmed his death, the office declined to release additional details pending family notification. “Rest easy,” one friend wrote on Facebook afterward.

By Monday evening, no arrests had been made and police had not yet released a suspect description, although several people were taken into custody at the scene.

Authorities declined to say whether there may be video footage of the shooting, and the club’s owner referred all requests for comment to his lawyer.