Longtime Toronto bouncer among dead in Mexico nightclub shooting

Tributes poured in Monday from friends and colleagues of a longtime Toronto bouncer who died in a shooting attack at a music festival in Mexico.

Kirk Wilson was identified as one of the five people killed when gunfire broke out at the crowded beachfront Blue Parrot nightclub as it throbbed with electronic music.

Without providing nationalities, Quintana Roo state government gave the names of three of those killed. They included Kirk Wilson, who the state identified as the BPM security supervisor at Blue Parrot, and Daniel Pessina and Rafael Antonio Penaloza Vega.

The shooting set off a bloody stampede by screaming concertgoers at the international festival in the resort of Playa del Carmen.

Longtime friend Neil Forester said Wilson was working security at the annual BPM Festival and was one of several people from the Toronto area lending a hand to the festival’s Canadian organizers.

“He was just a genuine, one-of-a-kind guy,” said Forester, who described Wilson as having no ego and no attitude. “He was the first guy you called whenever you needed something.”

While Mexican authorities said two Canadians were among the five dead, Global Affairs Canada confirmed one Canadian death.

Federal officials initially said it was working to verify whether there was a second Canadian fatality, but Global Affairs confirmed late Monday that only one of dead was a Canadian citizen, and named Wilson as the victim.

Global Affairs also said at least two other Canadians were wounded.

Forester, a corporate event promoter in Toronto, described Wilson as a fixture on the Toronto club scene — a stocky 6-5 man with waist-length dreadlocks who freelanced in security and running the front door of various Toronto clubs.

“He had a nickname — ‘Kirk with the dreads,'” Forester said. “He was just a really amazing guy that treated everyone with respect — whether it was patrons, co-workers or whoever it may be.”

Forester said Wilson, 49, was married with two children and living in the Hamilton, Ont., area.

Wilson’s wife didn’t want to talk to the media and the family is “obviously devastated and shocked,” he said, adding that Wilson’s children were in school when the family learned of his death.

There was plenty of sorrow online, where musicians and clubgoers expressed condolences and thanked Wilson for keeping them safe over the years.

A company that employed him also expressed its condolences.

“We can confirm that Kirk Wilson was a longtime employee and great friend of INK Entertainment,” the firm said in a statement. “Our team is overcome with grief over this terrible tragedy and would like to express our sincerest condolences to his family and friends for their loss.”

Listen to the full interview below:

Quintana Roo State Attorney General Miguel Angel Pech ruled out any terror attack, but said the shooting erupted when festival security personnel tried to stop a man from entering the club with a gun.

Pech said the 15 people with injuries included a Mexican woman who was seriously injured. He said eight of the injured, including two U.S. citizens, were treated at hospitals for minor injuries and released.

Quintana Roo state officials initially said the dead included an Italian, a Colombian and two Canadians, while not giving a country for the fifth victim. The state prosecutor’s office later said that only one Canadian was killed, and the U.S. Embassy confirmed that one of those killed was a U.S. citizen. Italy’s Foreign Ministry also confirmed one of its citizens died.

The shooting occurred near the largest exit, setting off chaos as concert goers had to scramble over a metal fence to escape to the beach. At least one person died in the crush to escape and some of the 15 people wounded or injured were hurt in the rush out, authorities said.

Jeffrey Castelein, 33, a fork lift operator from Belgium, said he heard 15 to 20 shots before he and his friends leapt the fence. “At first we didn’t realize, and then everybody fell down and you had to hide a little bit. And then we went out the back by the sea.”

His group got separated and had to wait for everyone to meet back at the apartment. “It was the longest 20 minutes of my life,” Castelein said.

Pech said the shooter apparently tried to enter the nightclub about 2:30 a.m., but was denied access because he had a gun. He then began to exchange fire with another person, and festival security personnel who tried to stop the shooting came under fire, Pech said. He said 20 bullet casings from three different pistols were found at the scene, but it was unclear if the security detail was armed or fired any of the weapons.

Pech said the gunman himself apparently escaped, though three people had been detained nearby. It was not known if they had been involved in the shooting.

“We know of another shooting incident that occurred near the nightclub, but we are investigating whether that is related” to the deadly shooting, Pech said.

Quintana Roo Gov. Carlos Joaquin attributed the shooting to “the intolerance and conflict of interests between two people,” but did not specify what those conflicts were. He said the two exchanged gunfire.

Playa del Carmen has largely been spared the violence that has hit other parts of Mexico.

The state tourism department said the shooting was an “isolated act of violence” and stressed that “the situation in Playa del Carmen is under control and Mexican and foreign tourists can feel protected and safe.”