Philippines banned "My Way"
Watch what you sing: Fatal karaoke shooting in H-Town not the first case ofdeadly karaoke violence
One of the world's most innocuous activities took a surprising deadly turn at 2 a.m. early Monday morning when a man was fatally shot in front of his family at a karaoke event in southwest Houston.
At the popular seafood restaurant Ostioneria Mazatlan (6401 Hillcroft), a 30-year-old man decided to sing the politically-charged "Somos mas americanos" by famed norteño band Los Tigres del Norte. Four men in the audience, however, were unhappy with the performance.
"The victim went back to the table with his family and friends," Houston Police Department spokesperson Kese Smith told CultureMap. "A unknown male at a adjacent table stood up and shot the victim one time in the head without any apparent provocation."
While numerous sources cite the music choice as the spark of the confrontation, an employee at the restaurant told KPRC Ch. 2 that the argument became particularly heated when the singer announced he was from Guerrero in southwest Mexico as the song ended. The shooter, reported to be in his twenties, shouted at the victim to "shut up."
HPD reported that the singer died at the scene, as the gunman and his three friends fled in a red Chevy truck. Two women also with the perpetrator left in a green Nissan Pathfinder
Six employees and customers were at the karaoke event, but managed to avoid injury. Restaurant workers noted a recent rise in fights at the small cafe.
Repeated calls to Ostioneria Mazatlan went unanswered.
Not the first time
In early 2010, The New York Times reported that many bars in the Philippines have banned Frank Sinatra's "My Way" from playlists following a sting of deadly scuffles spurred by lackluster renditions of the karaoke standard.
Several years earlier in Thailand, a gunman shot eight victims dead after growing tired of countless versions of John Denver's "Take Me Home, Country Roads" at a neighborhood bar.
Even the notoriously mellow Pacific Northwest has seen karaoke violence after a 21-year-old women attacked a man putting on his best Chris Martin impression for Coldplay's "Yellow."
HPD is asking anyone with information regarding the Ostioneria Mazatlan shooting to contact Crime Stoppers or call its homicide division at 713-308-3600.
