One Person Killed After Driver Smashes Into Crowd Outside Houston Gay Bar

An altercation outside a Houston gay bar turned deadly Wednesday night after a man drove into pedestrians, killing one, and injuring another.

Jared Jontě Jacobs had just graduated from Lamar University and was working as a nurse at Houston Methodist San Jacinto Hospital’s ICU. According to reports, he had nothing to do a fight that erupted outside the Bayou Bar and Grill shortly after 2:00am.

Police have charged Cordale Robinson, 25, with murder and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon for allegedly driving into Jacobs outside the Houston gay bar.

“Robinson got into his friend’s vehicle, a 2011 silver Dodge Avenger, and drove through the parking lot at least twice, intentionally striking pedestrians and two vehicles,” the Houston Police Department reported in a statement.

Jacobs was transported to Memorial Hermann Hospital where he died, police said. Another 23-year-old man was taken to the hospital for injuries to his right leg and torso.

Robinson was at the scene when law enforcement arrived and was arrested without incident, according to police.

According to Click2Houston, the incident started when Robinson asked people at Bayou if anyone had seen his lost phone. His friend, Caltrell Jones, said after they left the bar, 50 people moved in on him and started beating him. She said he might have died had he not escaped in the car.

“It was me, him, and his cousin,” Jones said. “We were trying to get in the car with him, but the people were running up to my car trying to still jump us. He tried to get away from them so he jumped in my car and the guy just happened to be in the way.”

Video footage of the arrest appears to show Robinson being taken away on a stretcher. In his booking photo, his eyes, nose, and cheeks appear to be bruised.

Houston Methodist San Jacinto Hospital Chief Executive Officer David P. Bernard mourned Jacob’s death in a statement released Thursday.

“Jared was an eager recent graduate of nursing school who was already an incredible asset to the ICU,” Bernard said. “His colleagues describe a bright smile and welcoming personality that lifted everyone around him.”

Edwin Lopez, told ABC 13 that he and Jacobs had just left the bar when the car came out of nowhere.

“We decided to go to college, make something of ourselves, and we decided to come out and just have fun, you know, and then this happened,” said Lopez.