The strip mall where the bar is located remained closed this morning as they interviewed witnesses who were at the club last night, which police say was very crowded. When police arrived at the "Happioke" karaoke bar at 2:30 a.m., they realized they would be dealing with more than just a shooting. They also had to figure out how to calm down all of their potential witnesses. "Initially, individuals were not being cooperative at the scene. It was pretty chaotic, to where the officers thought they might have had a crowd control issue," Sgt. Jason Dwyer said.
Police said the people coming out of the bar were concerned and emotional about the fact that a 25-year-old man had been shot to death right there in parking lot but eventually, officers deescalated the situation and convinced about a dozen people to go down to the station and give them statements. "This is not necessarily a case of whodunit. We do have some pretty strong leads. I'm told that the detectives are hoping they're going to pan out, so hopefully by end of today, we'll have an idea whether or not we're going to have an arrest," Dwyer said.
The shooting happened in a large strip mall on Senter Road in South Central San Jose. At least one business owner said her alarm system went off overnight. "I was so worried because this morning, I don't know what's going on. I was so worried, I don't know what happened to my office," Phung Nguyen said. It wasn't until she went down to the roped off building in the morning that she realized what happened.
Crime scene investigators kept a section of the shopping center roped off throughout the morning as customers and business owners tried to continue on with a normal day. Investigators are still trying to figure out why the man was shot. "It could've been random. They could've known each other. It could've been motivated by gang affiliations. We just don't know at this point," Dwyer said.
Police say it seems likely the shooting resulted from a toxic combination of firearms and alcohol.
