Security guard stabbed at club over weekend
23-year-old arrested, charged in early-morning incident Sunday
By Jessica Foster - The Sun News
A security guard at the Tequila Latin Club was stabbed early Sunday morning by a drunken patron, according to officials with the Myrtle Beach Police Department.
The incident, which was at least the second stabbing at the club at 415 Yaupon Lane in the past five months, happened around 2 a.m., police said
Bernardo Moreno Zapata was arrested and charged Sunday with assault and battery with intent to kill. His bond hearing is scheduled for 9 a.m. today.
Zapata, 23, of Myrtle Beach, had been in the club earlier and had returned when the guard was stabbed in the area of his lower chest and upper abdomen, police said.
Zapata walked up to the guard at the door, and then the guard felt a sharp pain in his chest area, according to the incident report.
"He looked down and saw the suspect pull away from him and then take off running and that is when he realized that he had been stabbed," the report states.
It's unclear why the guard was stabbed. Myrtle Beach police Investigator Michael Hull said Zapata was intoxicated, and that likely was a factor in the stabbing. Club employees told police Zapata was a regular at the club.
The suspect fled the scene, but didn't get far, Hull said. He went around the front of the building and headed east toward Kings Highway, but other club employees chased him down and held him until police arrived.
The guard, 45-year-old Alfredo Lopez of Conway, was transported to Grand Strand Regional Medical Center where he was treated for the wound, which was not life-threatening, Hull said.
It was at least the second stabbing to occur at the club in the past five months. In May, a Myrtle Beach man was stabbed four times in the back and arm as he was leaving the club. He was taken to Grand Strand Regional Medical Center, where he was treated and released.
Contact JESSICA FOSTER at 626-0351 or [email protected].
