Union Plaza Attracting Partiers Despite City Hall’s Bullet Incident

The Fourth of July weekend festivities come just days after bullets – believed to be from Juarez – hit El Paso City Hall.

So is fear lingering in the area?

“I really don’t think it’s affecting us much,” says Paloma Baltier, a manager at Republic Night Club. She adds it’s been business as usual since Tuesday’s city hall shooting, just blocks away.

Baltier says the night club did have a staff meeting to talk about what happened, but other than that, there really seems to be little concern in Union Plaza.

“We have great police that are taking care of it, so I really don’t think we should be worrying about that kind of stuff,” she adds.

In fact, Balter says young people from Juarez continue to flock to the bars here to escape the violence. When asked if she was afraid of any stray bullets around here, Paloma says, “No, not at all.”

On the other hand, club goer Cynthia Martinez is keeping her eyes and ears open, but, apparently, flying bullets aren’t really too much of a deterrent.

And Dominic Vega says, “I don’t think it’ll cross over.” Standing within view of City Hall, he offered his theories on Tuesday’s gunfire, but again, like everyone else here, he isn’t too worried.

“I mean, we can’t stop ’em, so…we can’t live in fear,” he says.