BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — Weeks after a deadly shooting in a Cobblestone District nightclub, the owners of that club are publicly defending themselves.
Speaking exclusively to the 7 News I-Team, Club Marcella owner Joe Marcella, insists his security protocols at the club are working. He says they were working, even before two shootings at the club, earlier this year. One of those shootings was deadly.
"We take everything out ...this is safety," Marcella said. "I cannot tell you any other place that they're safe."
But the fact is, a gun made it inside the club that deadly February night.
Marcella's partner — and chief financial officer — Michael Slyder says it wasn't because of a lack of security. Slyder says there are 18-20 guards on duty every Saturday night. He says there are two armed guards outside, two pat downs at the door, a metal detector and more than 80 surveillance cameras.
"What happened that terrible night was a new threat," Slyder said. "We had never had a gun in 30 years inside any of our places."
DRANTCH: Do you at all feel responsible for that?
SLYDER: You can't ... what I feel responsible for is to provide the best security I can, knowing what I know at the time.
At the time, there was only a six-foot fence between the club and the parking lot. A nine-foot fence was installed as a direct result of the shooting. The owners had to get a variance to have that fence installed.
Surveillance video from the night of the deadly shooting shows the shooter passing a gun -- from an adjacent parking lot -- to a friend, who was hiding behind a green dumpster, on the property. He was questioned by security, but told them he was going to the bathroom and was let back in because he never left the club's property.
The I-Team is told that the shooter's friend had "X" marks on his hands, meaning he was under the age of 21 and initially searched before entering the club.
"It's just unfortunate... it really is," Michael Tomaka said. He works security at Club Marcella.
Tomaka was shot in the leg during the first shooting in late January. He defends the actions of security guards, who were working the night of the deadly shooting weeks later. He called this an eye-opener.
"It's like, I don't know. Buffalo is the "City of Good Neighbors" and for me to get shot and then two weeks later, another individual gets shot, pass away, and one of our guys got shot, it's not how it's supposed to be," Tomaka said.
The person who video shows hiding behind the dumpster was 17-years-old. He shouldn't have been in the club in the first place.
DRANTCH: How did someone who is underage get into the club?
SLYDER: Fake ID. We'll start with that. Remember, the State of New York, it's 16 and up. Our policy at Club Marcella is 18 and over. People have to understand we're not a small bar. We're a dance club.
DRANTCH: Have you thought about making it 21 and older?
SLYDER: It's difficult. We'd like to. We're working on that right now. We want to review everything.
That 17-year-old is now locked up, facing charges connected to the shooting. Slyder says the shooter has been at the club before.
"At the end of the day, it's quite surprising who ends up being the seriously violent person," Slyder said. "No one can ensure anything. That's the scary part about the society we live in right now. The violence is widespread. When something happens that's out of the box, then you upgrade, revise, rethink your security plan."
Still, Marcella says the security plan is sound and insists club-goers are safe.
"We do our job," Marcella said. "I cannot guarantee what other people are doing, but I know I'm doing my job to protect my business."
