BALTIMORE — The coach of a local championship soccer team is dead after being shot by a security guard at a bar in East Baltimore, police said.
It’s a shooting death shaking the core of the 35-year-old’s family and team as Baltimore police investigate.
The bar, sitting at the intersection of East Lombard and Southaven Street, was supposed to be the place to celebrate the success of Kevin Torres’ soccer team early Monday morning.
He was the head coach of a team coming off another victory.
“They were just out there celebrating you know? They had just won the tournament. That’s was their third one back-to-back,” said Erick Vicenty, the victim’s step-son.
But now it’s the place of a make shift memorial and mourning.
Vicenty tells WMAR-2 News that just as the night was wrapping up, an argument between Torres’ daughter and another woman at the bar intensified.
Torres intervened before it got the attention of a security guard at the club, who according to witnesses, pulled out his baton and attempted to hit the girls who were arguing.
Witnesses say Torres demanded he stop and in his daughters defense, shoved the security guard, causing him to fall.
The owner then asked Torres to leave the bar and he complied, but the issue between him and that security guard was far from over.
“Once he was outside he confronted my step father. Some words were exchanged and my step father got pepper sprayed. My step father fell to the ground as he was pepper sprayed and since he couldn’t see he grabbed the first thing he found,” said Vicenty.
Police say Torres grabbed a brick to hit him with and that’s when things turned deadly.
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“The security officer shot at him 3 times and he fell to the ground, then the security officer got back up from the ground and shot him another 3 times,” he recalled.
And now the soccer players, and Torres' son, daughter, and wife left behind, are after justice in his death as police continue their investigation.
“We just want Justice for my father. That’s really it. I don’t really wish any ill intentions on the security officer but hopefully he gets what he deserves, prison time whatever it may be,” said the victim’s son.
Baltimore Police haven’t identified the security guard or said if he'll be facing any charges.
Anyone with information is asked to contact Baltimore PD.
