Rival gang members gave each other dirty looks. Then someone pulled out a gun, cops say

On the early Sunday morning last summer when Gabriel “Rebel” Conde was shot dead, he and fellow members of the street gang Westside Locos were hanging out at a Tommy Knockers bar in Bradenton. There were some members of the rival Norte 14 gang also at the bar, according to a sheriff’s office report.

When two more Norteños, as Norte 14 members commonly call themselves, walked in, the trouble started.

Anthony Lugo-Vazquez first walked in and began “mean mugging” the Lokz, as the Westside Locos refer to themselves, according to the report. Then Lugo-Vazquez’s ex-stepson, Roberto Jimenez Jr., walked into the bar and began exchanging gang signs and words with one of the Loks with Conde.

The two agreed to fight it out in the parking lot, and Lugo-Vazquez armed himself with a gun as both groups stepped outside.

Jimenez and the Westside Loco gang member began fighting. Lugo-Vazquez waved his gun around ,trying to start a fight with Conde, according to the report . But Conde warned Lugo-Vazquez that he would just get shot.

But Lugo-Vazquez fired his weapon first, killing Conde, according to the sheriff’s office, which detailed findings of their investigation in probable cause affidavits filed in court.

More than a year later, Lugo-Vazquez is in custody at the Manatee County jail, facing charges of second-degree murder and possession of a weapon by a convicted felon for the June 10, 2018, shooting at Tommy Knockers Saloon, 5627 14th St. W., Bradenton.

Lugo-Vazquez was identified as a suspect within days of the shooting, but he was arrested only on a violation of probation charge while detectives worked to build a case. He was sent back to federal prison for violating the conditions of his probation for a possession of cocaine conviction by being in possession of the firearm.

Detectives corroborated witness accounts with surveillance video obtained from inside and outside the bar, according to probable cause affidavits filed in the case.

Last week, Lugo-Vazquez was transported back from a federal prison in Indiana to Manatee County to face the new charges filed against him. He is being held on bonds totaling $407,500 and was ordered by the court not to have any contact with Conde’s family or any witnesses in the case.

Lugo-Vazquez’s ex-stepson has also been arrested as a co-defendant in the case.

According to the probable cause affidavits, when Lugo-Vazquez began shooting in Conde’s direction, the other Westside Locos including the one Jimenez was fighting ran away. But as Jimenez ran to the car, he turned and shot the rival in the leg.

Jimenez, who was arrested June 28 of this year, was charged with attempted manslaughter with a firearm. He was released from the Manatee County jail on a $35,000 bond on the same day of his arrest.

This story was originally published July 27, 2019 at 4:59 AM.