Bronx bar co-owner shot; drunk patron suspected, police say

ALLERTON, Bronx (WABC) -- A drunk patron is accused of shooting a married father of three after he refused the gunman service in the family's Bronx bar.

Mario Ramirez, 52, was shot inside the El Rey De Copas bar on White Plains Road in Allerton just after 1 a.m. Friday.

Ramirez, who co-owns the bar with other family members, was shot in the chest and neck. He was taken to Jacobi Medical Center in critical condition.

"Most of the customers, we know them," the victim's brother, Gustavo Ramirez said. "They are regular customers. They come here every week."

But this man was no regular, though Gustavo said he looked familiar.

"He come (before), he make some kind of incident too, and that's why he never come back," Gustavo Ramirez said. "We have the rules that somebody come in and make some kind of problem, he never get in any more, to be safe."

Authorities say the suspect appears to have come into the bar intoxicated and demanded to a beer. When the victim attempted to remove him, the suspect responded by shooting him, police said.

"He said he wanted to talk to the manager, so when my brother comes to the table, he explained to him why we don't serve anymore," Gustavo Ramirez said. "So he get mad, and he stand up and and shoot him."

The suspect, a man in his 40s, was wearing black pants and a black shirt. He fled the scene.

No arrests have been made, although the suspect is believed to have been caught on the bar's surveillance cameras.

The brothers, who immigrated from Mexico, have owned the restaurant since 2001.