Man Shoots Stripper, Commits Suicide After Lap Dance

Rialto, CA – A man who was rejected by a stripper after a private lap dance shot and wounded the woman before committing suicide, police said Thursday.

Around 7:30 pm, the man began shooting after he made several passes at the dancer, asking her to leave with him, and she turned him down. The woman, a dancer at the Spearmint Rhino Gentleman’s Club in Rialto, California was shot with a high-powered semiautomatic handgun before the 46-year-old customer turned the gun on himself. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

The dancer, who is in her late 20s, was shot in the head and is in stable condition at Arrowhead Regional Medical Center in Colton.

A representative for the club said the man was a regular customer and had come in daily to see the stripper. Rialto police Capt. Randy DeAnda said the man had been frequenting the club since January and had become obsessed with the dancer.

“Apparently, she was his favorite dancer,” DeAnda said. “He did make some advances toward her that she didn’t accept.” The man also allegedly brought up all the money he had spent on the dancer before pulling out his gun and shooting her.

The gentleman’s club does not have metal detectors, and the gunman wasn’t searched before he entered. The club’s management declined to comment and did not specify when they would reopen for business.

This isn’t the first shooting to happen at a strip club this year. Last month, two people were shot at Club Onyx in south Charlotte, North Carolina. Both victims were treated for non-life-threatening injuries.

The Spearmint Rhino has several locations throughout the US, UK, and Australia. The Dallas location had to pay $10.5 million to the family of a woman who was killed in a vehicular accident in the parking lot of the club in 2011. The woman was inadvertently crushed by a monster truck by a driver who was allowed to leave the club intoxicated.