Arizona: Go-go dancer and bar manager fend off axe-wielding attacker at gay bar
A bar manager and a male go-go dancer helped to stop a man after he attacked patrons and staff with an axe at a gay bar in Phoenix, Arizona, on 17 February.
The man, 40-year-old Lawrence Aguirre, now faces charges of two counts of aggravated assault and one count of criminal damage, reports Fox 10 News.
Adrian Carlos Maldonado, the manager of the Oz bar said: “I really thought my life was in danger, I’m pretty sure everybody else did too.”
Mr Maldonado claims that he witnessed Mr Aguirre have an argument with his girlfriend in the bar and he told him that he couldn’t serve him anymore to drink.
“I couldn’t serve him any more for the night…he got irate,” said Mr Maldonado. “After I escorted him out, he went out to the car, picked up an axe and came back at us.”
Mr Maldonado stayed inside and held the door to the bar closed while Mr Aguirre started to hit the door with the axe.
Finally, when Mr Maldonado thought the attacker had left, he opened the door only to find Mr Aguirre still there with his axe in hand.
Mr Aguirre stormed into the bar yelling, “I will kill you.”
“He said, ‘Come on, bring it, I’m gonna hit you with this sucker.’ He was pretty crazy and adamant about it,” said Mr Maldonado.
One of the bar’s go-go dancers managed to grab Mr Aguirre around the neck and hold him so Mr Maldonado could hit him over the head with a pool cue until he dropped the axe.
“Once that happened, I threw the pool stick to the side, I had somebody else grab the axe and we just held him on the ground,” said Mr Maldonado.
Four other people helped to hold down Mr Aguirre until the police arrived.
“It’s so weird that something like that happened but I was really happy everybody pulled together and helped me out with getting this guy on the ground and having him arrested, because this guy was crazy,” said Mr Maldonado.
The police report states that Mr Aguirre used a homophobic slur when he told police he was assaulted at the bar.
Police are currently reviewing the case.
