The bouncer who fired upon four people outside a Chelsea club - killing one - allegedly told the police he killed two other bouncers last fall. The Post says Sakai is being questioned in the murders of Irving Matos, a topless bar bouncer who was found dead in his home, and Edwin Mojica, another bouncer at Opus 22, where Sakai worked. Sakai apparently did pass an exam to be a security guard, though he never had a license to carry a gun on the job, which prompted Mayor Bloomberg to say, "I think it goes to highlight the problem of illegal guns. There's only one reason to carry a gun on the streets of a big city and that's to use it." The City Council is looking to propose stricter legislation for bouncers. The Times says that while Opus 22 has never had run-ins with the State Liquor Authority, neighbors had been complaining "fights and noise ouside the club."
Sakai is expected to be arraigned on murder, assault and weapons charges this morning. While some witnesses say Sakai, after shooting the first man, taunted the victim's friend, "You want some too?" then shooting the friend, the Daily News has a new version of what happened on West 22nd Street:
"\[The bouncer\] was saying, 'Calm down,' " a witness said. "Then he turned away from the guy. He had a smirk on his face and he pulled out a gun and shot him in the foot."
Davis' pal Yeison Correa, 23, hit the bouncer and Sakai "just turned around and shot him too," the witness said.
That's when Andres Cuadros came at Sakai with a metal cash box and beaned him on the head. Sakai allegedly responded by shooting him in the throat.
Cuadros' brother, Gustavo, ran over in shock. "What'd you do that for?" he asked. The bouncer answered with another pull of the trigger, witnesses said. "He just shot him in the face," the witness said.
After the shooting, the bouncer ran back into Opus, grabbed his jacket and hopped a subway to Brooklyn, police sources said.
Andres Cuadros is in the hospital, paralyzed and in critical condition; he was supposed to graduate from community college yesterday.
And Rob the Bouncer at Clublife writes about the shooting: "I don't carry a gun to work. I could, but I don't. If the day ever comes when I think I need to carry a gun to work, I won't go to work that day. I'll skip it because if I believe I need to carry a gun to work, I've let the club intrude upon my "real life." And I can't let that happen because nightclubs aren't real."
