Arlington police: Customer killed gunman, may have saved other lives

A gunman fatally shot an employee at an Arlington sports bar Wednesday evening before he was killed by an armed customer, police said.

The shooting was reported about 6:15 p.m. at Zona Caliente Sports Bar and Grill in the 6500 block of South Cooper Street.

Witnesses reported that a man arrived at the bar and walked up to a male employee, said Lt. Chris Cook, police spokesman. An altercation ensued, and the man pulled out a gun and shot the employee, killing him.

A customer who had a concealed handgun then approached the man and fatally shot him.

“By all accounts, he decided to engage the shooter because he wanted to prevent further loss of life,” Cook said. “If the shooter was going to do additional shooting, because he engaged the shooter there was no further loss of life.”

The customer who shot the gunman told police he has a concealed handgun license, Cook said.

A third person, a woman, suffered a non-life-threatening injury during the incident. She cut her feet on broken glass while trying to escape the building, Cook said.

There were about 15 to 20 people in the sports bar when the shooting happened.

Police were still at the scene investigating and interviewing witnesses at 9 p.m. Police also planned to review surveillance video inside the restaurant, Cook said.

It was unknown if the suspect knew the victim.

This story was originally published May 3, 2017 at 6:57 PM with the headline "Arlington police: Customer killed gunman, may have saved other lives."