The restaurant owner says the incident lasted just 12 seconds. In that time, three people were shot, another was grazed by a bullet, and a roomful of diners hit the floor.
The owner of NOVO Brazil said Monday that the shooter in his Chula Vista restaurant Saturday evening was not a customer.
Rather, the shooter had chased his target — a teenager — through Otay Ranch Town Center, into the restaurant and opened fire. Three of the victims were bystanders.
“Everybody’s shocked. It’s a family restaurant. There were kids inside,” NOVO Brazil Brewing Company owner Tiago Carneiro said Monday. “We are very blessed that no one died.”
About 7:15 p.m. Saturday a dispute between two groups at the mall spilled into the brewery, in the mall just east of state Route 125 off Birch Road and Eastlake Parkway.
Police said the four who were injured were taken for treatment, and none of the them had wounds considered life-threatening.
The shooter ran off. He remained at large Monday afternoon.
Police said in a news release Monday that they have obtained video that caught much of the incident.
Although the trouble started between the two groups, police believe there was only one shooter. They did not release any further information about the gunman.
But they shared more information about the victims. One was a 16-year-old who was involved in the dispute and who ended up inside the restaurant, they said. He was shot in his legs.
A 60-year-old woman and a 58-year-old man, restaurant customers, were also each shot in the legs, police said.
And a 21-year-old woman in the restaurant was taken to a hospital to be treated for a graze wound to her leg. Carneiro said she is an employee who started about a week ago.
Carneiro was not there that night said he has seen surveillance video of the shooting. According to him, the dispute started outside the restaurant, and it appeared the 16-year-old was running from someone when he ducked into NOVO. At least one of the people chasing the teen followed him inside.
When the gunfire started “everyone hit the floor,” Carneiro said.
When the 911 calls started, it prompted concern of an active shooter, and several law enforcement agencies responded. The mall was locked down as police swept the area.
A customer at NOVO was with her husband and three children when she heard a loud boom. At first, she thought a table had tipped over. Then more booms. By the third one, she thought “Oh, this is bad.” Her next thought: active shooter.
She covered her head and ran for the play area, where her kids and several other children were, then she and her husband ushered them out through an emergency exit.
“We left everything. I even left my shoe there,” she said.
She said they still have not gotten back items left behind, like her kids’ backpacks. But the children — a 9-year-old and 5-year-old twins — “are so terrified, they even don’t want to get close to the mall,” she said.
Carneiro said none of his staffers was familiar with anyone involved in the shooting.
“I hope this criminal gets arrested as soon as possible,” Carneiro said. “For me it’s a terrorist act to go inside a restaurant with kids and families inside.”
He said he went to the restaurant early the next morning to clean up. The damage was minimal, and he decided to reopen that day.
“I make sure we stand up against violence,” he said. “The best reaction we can give is that we don’t accept violence in our community and our place.
“This is the reason that I moved here from Brazil. It is a very violent country. I moved here because of that.”
Carneiro said he had never had any big incidents in the four years since he opened the restaurant. “Super safe community, great area, great neighborhood,” he said.
Witnesses or tipsters with information about the case but wishes to remain anonymous can call San Diego County Crime Stoppers at (888) 580-8477 or submit a tip via P3tips.
