Holding a photo of her longtime partner, Blanca Rosas said she never imagined one night out celebrating a co-worker’s birthday at a bar in San Pedro would destroy her family.
“My kids are left without a father,” she said at a news conference in late March. “My family is broken and will never be the same.”
Her partner, Tyrone Tyars, was shot and killed at Machista, at 952 S. Pacific St. in San Pedro on Jan. 20, 2024. Tyars, 33, was there to pick up Rosas, who felt unsafe after a fight had broken out inside the bar, family members said.
Rosas, joined by her 10-year-old son and attorneys Jasmine Mines, Ben Crump and Cheyenne Ryan, called the news conference to announce a lawsuit against Machista and the property owner, Mark William Kaake Sr., claiming wrongful death and negligence on the part of the bar. The attorneys claim that had the bar had adequate security, the alleged shooter, an 18-year-old woman, would not have been allowed inside.
Rosas was shot three times in the back, leg and ankle, with one of those bullets still in her ankle and another from her leg surgically removed, she said. She was released from the hospital with a walker.
She and Tyars had been together for more than 17 years, she said, and they had two boys. The younger one is 8-months-old.
The alleged shooter, 18-year-old Estrella Rojas, faces charges of murder and attempted murder in relation to the shooting and another that happened a week prior, according to police and court records. She has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
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The lawsuit was filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court on Friday, April 5, records show. Rosas and the couple’s two children, identified in the suit by their initials, are named as the plaintiffs.
Court records did not indicate whether the defendants had hired attorneys to represent them. Calls to the bar were not returned Monday.
Mines accused the bar of having a history of violence, citing 34 previous 911 calls related to violent activity, including fights, battery, domestic violence and criminal threats, in addition to a shots-fired call less than three weeks before Tyars was killed.
“(They were) allowing minors in, not having accurate security to check if someone has a weapon before they walk in and an 18-year old shot and killed Mr. Tyars and has completely devastated a family,” Mines said.
“The lawsuit’s objective is to honor Tyrone Tyars memory, to seek compensation so that his children can have support that they will no longer be able to have from him because of the shooting at Machista,” she said.
The suit also seeks punitive damages, though the amount was not announced. Punitive damages, in addition to compensatory damages for a plaintiff’s losses, can be awarded to punish a defendant or act as a deterrent to future behavior.
Mines acknowledged the bar has since added armed security, but “had there been an armed guard on the day of the shooting, that could have potentially saved a life and saved other people from getting shot,” she said.
“The cumulative effect of the Defendants’ failures was the creation of an extremely unsafe environment that made it foreseeable that a shooting could occur,” attorneys wrote in the suit. “Defendants concealed the risk that everyone attending the bar was exposed to by failing to notify their guests of the propensity and high likelihood of a violent act occurring at the bar.”
Rosas incurred medical expenses and will likely incur more in the future, according to the suit.
The attorneys claimed Councilman Tim McOsker, whose district includes San Pedro, had brought the bar to the attention of the City of Los Angeles’ planning department for revocation or modification, but nothing was done.
McOsker said through a spokeswoman that his office could not comment because of the pending litigation.
Staff writer Josh Cain contributed to this story.