A teenager was killed at a Socastee restaurant. His family is now suing.
The estate of a teenager killed in Socastee is suing the restaurant where he was the night of his death.
In March, Gerson Aleman-Velasquez was at La Brasa Viva when he was shot and killed. Horry County police announced 19-year-old Josue Rivera was a suspect. Rivera has not been charged with a crime and police have not made an arrest in connection to the shooting.
Aleman was drinking alcohol the night of the shooting and so were other underage people in the restaurant, according to a lawsuit filed in Horry County court on Aug. 31. The suit states that the minors “were continuously served alcohol at Brasa Viva, by Brasa Viva employees, such that they became drunk.”
This created an “unruly and dangerous environment,” the lawsuit goes on to say. This environment played a role in the shooting, the lawsuit states.
La Brasa Viva is a Honduran restaurant in a strip mall on Socastee Boulevard. According to the lawsuit, the restaurant and surrounding plaza have had numerous criminal complaints including murders, assaults and vandalism.
The restaurant did not respond to request for comment on the lawsuit.
The victim
Aleman came to the United States when he was 16 to escape the violence in Honduras.
He began working and sent home as much money as he could to his mother, her only source of income.
Without any close relatives in the states, he worked in Louisiana washing cars and installing roofs near New Orleans. He then moved to North Carolina where he found more roofing work and most recently worked around Myrtle Beach. He sent most of his paychecks home to help his mother.
He dreamt of getting her a job in the US and living in a house together again with his siblings.
After he died, his employers formed a fundraiser to send his body home to his mother for a burial.
The shooting
Exactly what happened the night of March 14 is still unclear. Horry County police haven’t released many details about what led up to the shooting but did name Rivera as a suspect.
Police are still looking for Rivera as of Monday afternoon. He was last seen in a white two-door 2002 BMW 330ci with South Carolina license plate SPT-485.
This story was originally published September 18, 2021 at 7:00 AM.
