DALLAS — A musician and employee at a Deep Ellum restaurant and music venue was struck by a stray bullet after an argument on the street outside of the venue devolved into gunfire on Sunday night, leaving the victim in critical condition.
The Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission (TABC) has since shut the venue down for several days as its investigation into the incident continues.
It's a decision -- and situation -- that has left many in the tightknit Deep Ellum music community angered and confused.
Friends and family describe Cameron Cooper, a Fort Worth native, as a musician on the rise in the music industry. Known as “Chief Rebel”, he sometimes performs with the band RC & Gritz at The Free Man in Deep Ellum.
The night of the Super Bowl, as that band was performing at that venue, Cooper was working security when he was shot by a stray bullet from the street.
"It’s nightmarish," said Tony Cooper, the victim’s father. "He was shot in the stomach and in the thigh."
As Cooper remains in the hospital, receiving a second surgery to hopefully help him recover from his wounds, his siblings shared stories with WFAA about their loved one.
"That’s my brother from day one," his sister Camille said. "This is hard."
Dallas police said Cooper was an innocent bystander of an incident that went sour outside of the Free Man's property.
"Anything on the other side of those ropes, that’s the city of Dallas," said Gino Lock-Johnson Iglehart, general manager at the Free Man. "We can't control what happens on the other side of our property line."
For a brief moment, Lock-Johnson Iglehart said, one of the eventual gunmen came into the venue to look around for the man with whom he was arguing. But after not spotting him inside the space, Lock-Johnson Iglehart said that person quickly exited the space.
"The guy ran through here," Cooper's sister Camille said. "The guy ran back out the door. Then bullets started flying."
All parties seem to agree that the shooting itself happened outside of the Free Man's property -- and that, beyond that brief moment when one of the gunman looked around the space, he had no other interaction inside of the business.
That's why so many in Deep Ellum are confused as to why the TABC shut down the establishment for seven days, why a place where Cooper was considered family is being punished for their brother being a victim of senseless violence.
“In the [TABC] document, it states that, in fear of retaliation, we have to close our doors,” said Lock-Johnson Iglehart.
But the bullet could've gone anywhere, the team at the Free Man said. It could've happened to any business. They wonder: Isn't dealing with one of their own being hospitalized by a random act enough of a bad hand to be dealt?
As for the TABC, the agency said state law authorizes them to issue a seven-day summary suspension in cases where the investigation remains active.
While the Free Man's lawyers work to reverse that decision -- the business will operate as a restaurant without a liquor license in the interim -- police said they will continue to search for the shooters who hospitalized Cooper.
Cooper's family, meanwhile, will stay by their son and bother's hospital bedside, hoping he recovers from his injuries.
"He won’t be able to do half of the things that he was trying to do," Cooper's sister Camille said of her concerns about his recovery process.
His family fears it'll be some time before he's able to do what he loves and perform music again -- if ever.
Cooper’s family has set up a GoFundMe account, hoping to help fund his recovery and care. If you would like to donate, click here.
No arrests have been made in the crime. On Wednesday, Feb. 15, the Dallas Police Department released surveillance video asking for the public's help in identifying possible persons of interest in the case. Click here to watch.
Anyone with any information is asked to call Assaults Detective Darryl Barclay at 214-671-4736 or darryl.barclay@dallaspolice.gov. Reference case number 025004-2023.
Crime Stoppers will also pay up to $5,000 for information that leads to the arrest and indictment for this felony offense. Call Crime Stoppers at 214-373-TIPS (8477), 24 hours a day, seven days a week.