Police say the suspects returned minutes after being removed from the business and opened fire on people gathered on the patio.
SAN ANTONIO, Texas — A man and a woman have been arrested in the shooting deaths of two people outside a Northwest Side hookah lounge after police said they were removed from the business, came back within minutes and fired into a crowd gathered near the patio.
Authorities identified the suspects as Joseph Anthony Amador, 34, and Lauren Tayler Machado-Juarez, 35. Both face capital murder charges in the deaths of Derek Dashaun Brown, 27, and Kyung Lee, 50. The arrests moved the case from a fast-moving early morning shooting investigation to a double-homicide prosecution, with police saying surveillance video, witness accounts and the suspected getaway car helped detectives track the pair within two days. The case has also drawn attention in San Antonio because of the public setting, the number of shots reported and the speed with which the violence followed a disturbance inside the lounge.
The shooting happened about 1:25 a.m. on Feb. 18 in the 4500 block of North Loop 1604 West, just past Northwest Military Highway, outside Myst Hookah + Ultra Lounge. Police said the trouble began inside the business, where an altercation led security staff to remove a man from the property. Investigators later said that person was Amador. Witnesses told officers the suspects left, then returned about five minutes later in a Ford Fusion. Police say the car approached with its lights off, passed the lounge, then circled back so the passenger side faced the outdoor smoking and patio area. Gunfire followed almost immediately. Vinnie Guerra, a videographer who had been working at the bar, said he had just stepped inside when the shots rang out. “As soon as I walked in the door, that’s when I heard the gunshots fire,” Guerra said, adding that panic set in when he turned back and saw two people down.
By the time officers arrived, Brown and Lee had been hit and were later pronounced dead at the scene. Police said no one else was physically injured, though the number of shots described by witnesses suggested a wider risk to patrons and nearby businesses. Guerra said he heard around 20 shots. A preliminary police report said a crowd had been gathered in an outdoor smoking area when the gunfire started. KSAT reported that San Antonio police received eight 911 calls after the shooting. Early reports described the gunman only as a man who had been kicked out of the bar and then fled. Investigators later tied the shooting to a man and woman seen leaving in the sedan. According to reports that cited arrest records, detectives identified the car through surveillance and other evidence, then located it two days later when the suspects were seen getting into the vehicle outside an apartment. A handgun was recovered after the arrests. Court records cited by local outlets also said both suspects had outstanding warrants on unrelated matters at the time they were taken into custody.
The names of the victims emerged over the next two days as police and the Bexar County Medical Examiner’s Office completed identifications. Brown was identified first, and Lee was publicly named later in an updated police report. Family members and friends began sharing memories almost immediately, turning the case from a crime scene into a story about two men whose deaths shook people well beyond the lounge. Brown was described by friends as energetic and social, someone who brought life to a room. One local report said he was born in Panama and later made San Antonio his home. Lee, remembered by some loved ones as “KC” or “Jimmy,” was described as upbeat and generous. Local coverage showed vigils and memorial gatherings forming within days of the shooting. Those accounts underscored a hard fact that often comes later in homicide cases: Brown and Lee were strangers to each other before they were killed in the same burst of gunfire outside a late-night business.
The setting also added to the case’s impact. Myst Hookah + Ultra Lounge sits in a commercial area near Loop 1604 and Lockhill Selma, an area better known for late-night traffic, restaurants and retail than for a double killing that draws citywide attention. The shooting happened in front of a business, not in a private home or isolated lot, and police said the bullets were fired toward people standing outside. Early television coverage from the scene included reports of bullet damage in nearby homes, a detail that widened concern about who might have been hurt if the rounds had traveled differently. The lounge itself became a focal point in the aftermath, with workers, patrons and neighboring businesses left to process what happened. One nearby business told local media that an employee who saw the shooting quit right away. Video posted online after the attack captured bystanders reacting in shock as first responders arrived, showing how quickly an argument inside became a deadly public spectacle outside.
Now the case is shifting into the court system. Amador and Machado-Juarez were booked on capital murder charges tied to the deaths of more than one person in the same criminal episode. Local reporting has also said Amador was booked on a driving while intoxicated charge, though the central prosecution is the capital murder case. Police have not publicly laid out every detail investigators believe each suspect played, but reports describe Amador as the person removed from the lounge and the shooter, while Machado-Juarez is accused of driving the car during the return to the scene. That means prosecutors are expected to focus not only on who fired, but also on planning, movement and intent in the minutes between the ejection from the bar and the gunfire outside. It is not yet clear whether defense lawyers have entered pleas, whether additional charges could follow, or when the first major court hearing will be held. Investigators also have not publicly detailed any ballistics findings, surveillance images or cellphone evidence beyond what has been described in local reporting.
For now, the human details continue to sit alongside the legal ones. Friends and relatives of the victims have used vigils, social posts and memorial pages to describe the men in terms far removed from the arrest paperwork. Brown was remembered as the kind of person who kept the mood up and loved being around people. Lee was remembered as a husband, father and Army veteran in some community tributes, with relatives describing him as someone who made people laugh and helped carry others through hard days. Those remembrances stand in sharp contrast to the witness account that first gave the case its grim public shorthand. Guerra said he did not grasp what was happening until he looked back and saw “two bodies down.” That brief description captured the chaos of the moment, but the days since have filled in the fuller picture of who was lost, how quickly the violence unfolded and how many lives were altered in a matter of seconds outside a San Antonio lounge.
The case remained active as of March 18, 2026, with both suspects under arrest and facing capital murder allegations. The next major milestone is expected to come in Bexar County court, where prosecutors and defense lawyers will begin testing the evidence gathered in the days after the Feb. 18 shooting.