One killed, one hurt in downtown shooting
WEST PALM BEACH — A deadly shooting early Friday outside a karaoke bar near Clematis Street erupted as the area teemed with bar-goers and tourists, many getting an early start on the Memorial Day weekend.
A suspect was arrested late Friday in the death of one man, Devin Weingarth, 24, and the wounding of a second, unidentified man.
Jovany Ortiz, 26, was taken into custody in another state by agents from the U.S. Marshals Service, a cit y police spokeswoman said.
The hometowns for Weingarth and Ortiz were unavailable.
The investigation showed
that Ortiz and the shooting victim knew each other. The shooting was not random and investigators are not seeking any additional suspects, said Detective Lori Colombino, spokeswoman for West Palm Beach police.
Evidence of the double shooting was still visible outside of Shout Karaoke as the business reopened Friday night. A few people were seated at the bar shortly after 8 p.m.
An employee sitting outside declined to comment and another employee went back inside and briefly locked the front door.
Shout opened its doors for business at 109 Olive Ave. in April. Three large bullet holes pock-marked a red wall along the lounge’s front entrance Friday and two more holes were ripped into poster board announcing the bar’s upcoming events.
Both shooting victims were taken to hospitals. Claudia Ruiz Levy, a marketing representative for Shout, said the injured man is a part-time employee of the karaoke bar who works as a bouncer. She declined to identify the employee. Police said the man sustained nonlife threatening injuries.
Weingarth does not have a connection to Shout but may have worked in the area, Ruiz Levy said.
Pamela Gallegos, who works in an office building next door to Shout, said the shootings had shaken her sense of securit y. Gallegos said she reg- ularly parks her car up the street from the karaoke bar, but might find a different location, especially when leaving work after dark.
“It’s scary,” Gallegos said. “You see this kind of thing all the time around Tamarind Avenue. But this area is usually pret- t y quiet. You don’t expect for anything like that to happen around here.”
While shootings aren’t common, big crowds on the popular downtown street are.
Eight officers patrol the downtown area around CityPlace and Clematis Street during the weekend when crowds are heaviest, according to West Palm Beach police, who recently allowed The Palm Beach Post to ride along. Four officers are in the area during weekdays.
Prior to Friday, the only shooting this year in either Cit yPlace or Clematis Street took place Jan. 5, when an 18-year-old man was shot in the buttocks at Cit yPlace. Two juveniles were arrested.
Friday’s homicide was the fifth this year in West Palm Beach and 26th in Palm Beach County, according to database kept by The Post.
Shout bills itself as a 6,900-square-foot entertainment complex that includes 11 private karaoke rooms suitable for one to 50 guests. The rooms rent