San Jose

5 Shot at San Jose Nightclub Hosting Chris Brown Event

WARNING: VIDEOS ON THIS PAGE CONTAIN EXPLICIT LANGUAGE

Five people were shot at a Chris Brown show at a San Jose nightclub early Sunday morning, San Jose police said. All five suffered non-life-threatening injuries and are expected to survive, according to San Jose Police Department spokesperson Officer Albert Morales.

The Grammy-award winning singer was in the middle of performing "Loyal" around 1 a.m. at the Fiesta Nightclub at 3840 Monterey Highway when loud pops that sounded like gunshots rang out, according to cell phone video posted on social media. Brown can be heard saying "Oh, them nā€”-s is getting it in over there,ā€ right before the gunshots are heard.

According to event promo materials, Brown was at the nightclub for a "Capricorn Bash" party, where ticket prices were going for anywhere between $50 and $2,500. The singer reportedly tweeted "I'm 100" following the shooting, alerting fans he was not hurt in the shooting, but later deleted it.

The San Jose police 911 Communications Center received a call at about 1:20 a.m. and when officers arrived they found four people with at least one gunshot wound each, Morales said. The four were transported to a hospital and the fifth victim showed up at a hospital, he said.

Cell phone video posted on social media by those attending the event, including Chris Brown himself, captured the moments leading up to the shooting and the aftermath.

Lt. James Hunt of SJPD said officers found shell casings inside the club and outside in the parking lot. Hunt said, when police arrived, some of the shooting victims were found inside the club and some were found outside.

Video footage shows nightclub guests panicking and running for cover as shots ring out. Brown himself appears to be wincing as the shots are fired, and is then led away by members of his entourage.

Summer Flores, who was at the Chris Brown show, told NBC Bay Area Sunday morning that she's still in shock.

"Everybody was having a good time ... then I suddenly saw people were reaching down, I thought it was part of the show or something ā€” I didn't even hear the first gunshot, I kept on filming, then I heard 'pop, pop, pop' and I saw people hiding under the bar. Everybody was screaming and people started running, but I stayed."

Flores said, when she came out, she saw about 40 police units pull up outside the club.

"We watched the cops carry a man out, holding him by his arms and legs and just carrying him to the ambulance like that, not even on a stretcher or anything," she said, "People were still screaming in the parking lot. I was completely terrified. I have never experienced anything like that in my life. It was like a nightmare."

Flores added that despite what happened at the show, she will always be a Chris Brown fan. "I don't think it's his fault at all," she said.

A video posted on YouTube shows the aftermath of the shooting, with alarms going off, furniture flipped over and blood on the floor.

Brown is no stranger to controversy. In 2009 he was in the news for a domestic-violence case involving then-girlfriend Rihanna. He has also had other brushes with the law, and was arrested in Washington D.C. for felony assault in 2013. In August 2014, former Death Row Records owner Suge Knight was shot during a pre-VMA award party hosted by Brown, MTV News reports.

The LA Times reported Brown tweeted "Thank you GOD" after an early release from jail in June 2014.

Facebook user Amanda Rodriguez wrote on NBC Bay Area's Facebook page that she was traumatized by Sunday's events.

"I was right there in the front and his crew kicked everything off the stage and luckily I only got hit with a glass cup!," Rodriguez wrote. "But girls next to me got the tables thrown on them. It was horrible."

Rodriguez told NBC Bay Area that she ran into the kitchen following the shooting. "A few of us girls ran into the fridge they had," she said. "Few minutes later security came yelling at us to get out. We kept asking if it was safe outside but they wouldn't tell us a thing. Once we walked outside more shots were fired and we all ran back into the kitchen."

Rodriguez said she came outside after police arrived. "We saw a man who got shot on the floor with a woman holding him screaming for help," she said.

Police were still canvassing the area and interviewing witnesses as of Sunday morning, Morales said. Morales said police are still trying to establish a motive and the circumstances surrounding the incident.

On Sunday night, the club's parking lot was strewn with broken glass and people's belongings, including shoes some concertgoers left behind.

Brown is scheduled to perform Sunday night in San Diego at the new Parq Restaurant & Nightclub. He is expected back in San Jose, March 6, for a performance at the SAP Center with Trey Songz featuring Tyga.

Information from Bay City News was included in this report.

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