JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The family of a Jacksonville father killed in a shooting on Christmas night is demanding answers nearly one week after his death.
Family members told Action News Jax Johnny Holloway, 28, who was also known to friends as Johnny Johnson, was a family man and a father of three children.
They say he always had a smile on his face, and they can’t understand why Live Bar didn’t beef up security during one of its biggest parties of the year.
Holloway’s life was cut short Christmas night. He died after shots were fired inside Live Bar in Downtown Jacksonville.
His sister Cassandra Johnson said his family is just trying to remain positive.
“We just want justice for my brother,” Johnson said.
They are pleading for the person responsible to come forward.
“If you know anything, just come forward and tell us,” Johnson said.
The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office said it doesn’t have a description of the shooter, but said investigators are looking for a yellow sports car.
Marwan Porter is the attorney representing Holloway’s family.
“Who was involved to make sure this place was safe?” Porter asked.
Porter said his team is now demanding answers from club management.
“There were some statements that were made that out of respect for the family, they shut down Live Bar for a couple of days. We think that’s a bunch of bologna. What they were doing in those couple of days was scraping off the blood from those floors, that’s what was going on,” Porter said.
JSO said the club hired an officer to work off duty before but has no record of an officer working for the party when the shooting happened.
The assistant manager at Live Bar told Action News Jax someone dropped the ball Christmas night.
The family’s attorney agrees.
“Get the extra security, get wands, have scanners to make sure people are safe. It’s imperative we put a stop to it, and a way that we put a stop to it is by putting people over profit. We can’t put profits over people,” Porter said.
Porter said he plans to take legal action against the bar within the next 30 to 60 days.
Current promoters at the club said they plan to make changes after the Christmas Day shooting. They didn’t go into detail.
A maintenance worker at Live Bar said the club is currently preparing for its New Year’s Eve party. The doors will open at 9 p.m. and the party is expected to last until 2 a.m.
Action News Jax has learned that Live Bar will have 2 JSO officers at the door checking people with metal detector wands and they will also have six armed security members inside the club.
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