Families sue after strip club shootings

AUSTIN (KXAN) - Family members of two men killed outside the Pink Monkey Cabaret in Travis County have sued the owners of the establishment for wrongful death.

The lawsuit, filed on behalf of six family members, claims the club was negligent by allowing a minor to get in without proper identification. The 15-year-old was the brother of one of the victims and the stepbrother of the other, according to the lawsuit filed in Travis County this week.

The lawsuit stated that on May 31, Jose Hernandez, Jr. and Arturo Rodriguez, Jr, were shot and killed outside the Pink Monkey as the result of a fight over a cell phone, which one of the dancers at the club accused the minor of stealing from her. The argument about the phone escalated when the manager of the club shot a gun into the air.

From the beginning, family members of the victims questioned security of the club and asked why the minor was allowed inside.

“I just do not think they did their job period,” said sister MariLu Hernandez back in May. “I do not know where they were when all this was happening.”

In June, Jorge Luis Gutierrez , 28, was charged with capital murder in the double homicide.  His bond has been set at $1 million. According to the Travis County Sheriff's Office, detectives think the incident started as a fist fight, and Gutierrez went to a white truck and retrieved a pistol and then shot the two brothers.

The mothers of the victims' children are seeking personal injury damages from Hilton Grill, LLC D/B/A Pink Monkey Cabaret.