Local

Shooting at 'Happy Place' bar in Orlando marks second in two months

By Kelly Healey and Samantha Manning
By Kelly Healey and Samantha Manning
A 55-year-old man was shot outside the Happy Place Sports Bar at about 1 a.m. Monday, the Orange County Sheriff’s Office said.
Monday’s shooting marks the second in two months at the bar on Southland Boulevard in Orlando.
Deputies said a confrontation between a security guard and another person in the parking lot of the bar led to the shooting.
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However, the victim was an innocent bystander, deputies said. The person involved in the argument fled the scene, authorities said. 
The victim was taken to Orlando Regional Medical Center.  He remains in stable condition, authorities said.
On July 9, a man was shot to death and four others were injured, including a security guard, outside the bar, deputies said.
Raw Video: Scene on July 9 outside bar after shooting
On July 20, Bryan O’Neill Diodonet Cortes was arrested on a second-degree murder charge in the shooting death of Edgar Rivera-Cruz, 20, authorities said.
Cortes was also charged with four counts of attempted second-degree murder, investigators said.
Records said the property owner has been trying to evict the bar owner, but he has refused to leave.
He was given an eviction notice in July after the first shooting, according to court documents.
The eviction notice said in addition to that deadly shooting, law enforcement had “responded to approximately 30 calls for service in the last year" at the bar.
The bar owner was supposed to be off of the property by July 31, but people in the complex said the bar has remained open.
In a statement, the attorney for the landlord said, “My client is saddened by these incidents, and we are diligently working on bringing the eviction lawsuit to a conclusion as soon as possible.”
Records said the bar owner also owes more than $4,500 in unpaid rent and maintenance costs.
 
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