Deadly shooting outside North Philadelphia club
Mayra Rivera greeted activist Roz Pichardo with a tearful hug, outside the A Lounge Social Club, Monday.
Rivera had planned to spend this morning celebrating her brother's 39th birthday.
Instead, she is planning his funeral.
"It's just hurt," said Rivera, describing her heart to FOX 29's Bruce Gordon. "And I'm frustrated and I'm angry. You know, he died senselessly in front of this building."
Pablo Rivera was gunned down outside the late-night, weekends-only BYOB lounge around 4:00 a.m. Sunday, after an argument with another man.
Police say a club security guard shot and wounded Rivera's killer and that another person was also injured by gunfire.
"I don't even understand why this place is even open," said Pichardo of the club. "How many more lives have to be taken, from the A Lounge?"
The club sits in the middle of the 4200 block of Macalester Street in Philadelphia's Hunting Park section, right in between a police impound lot and a police special victim's headquarters.
But neither offers any security.
Three people have been fatally shot outside the A Lounge in the past 34 months, in addition to several other shootings in which the victims were wounded but survived.
In January of 2015, 34-year-old Alejandro Rojas Garcia-- a father of two, who'd gone back to college to better his prospects-- lost his life to gunfire out front of the club.
His mother and father have been complaining to city officials about violence here ever since-- to no avail.
"I will never have my son back," said Aleida Garcia, "and I'm just…so heartbroken."
On the Monday after yet another weekend of violence, shreds of police crime scene tape could be seen hanging from weeds and posts nearby.
Trash surrounded the building-- a building now renamed by Pichardo and those other grieving family members, 'Club Death.'
"Just close it down," said Pichardo. "There's too much pain in this place."
The owner of the A Lounge, "Alex," (he would not give his last name) said he could not talk to FOX 29 on camera, but told Gordon by phone that, while he is "sad" about the violence, all of the shootings have taken place outside his facility.
He notes that he hires armed security guards, pays for security cameras and cooperates fully with police.
But he also said, in light of the most recent fatal gunplay, he is, indeed, considering shutting down his club.