Poker Player Sues Florida Card Club After Shooting

Posted on: November 25, 2024, 08:41h. 

Last updated on: November 25, 2024, 10:00h.

Philip Conneller @casinoorgphilc Read More
Expertise: Gaming Business, Regulation, Tribal Gaming.

A poker player who was shot multiple times outside a Florida card club after a winning session is suing the venue for failing to adequately protect him.

Bestbet, Orange Park, Jacksonville, shooting
The parking lot of Bestbet, where poker player Karruah Parkinson was shot and severely injured, allegedly by players who had been playing poker with him minutes earlier. (Image: Times-Union)

Karruah Parkinson was critically injured in the parking lot of Bestbet, a parimutuel facility in the Jacksonville suburb of Orange Park, on Nov. 23, 2022, local channel News4Jax reports.

Parkinson won around $6,000 at the poker table that night. As he went to cash out, he left several poker chips on the table for the other players in a gesture of generosity, his lawyer, Okoye Morgan, told the news channel.

Some of those players followed him out of the venue and shot him, according to Morgan.

‘No Security’

“As he is trying to basically escape this shooting, he goes up to a security car or security stand or security post to try to flag down a security officer to no avail,” Morgan said. “There was no security officer there.”

Police later found Parkinson in his car, which was riddled with bullets. He was rushed to HCA Florida Orange Park Hospital. Parkinson is still recovering physically and mentally from the ordeal. He remains in severe pain because of the severity of the injuries to his stomach and arms. The bullets passed close to his internal organs, according to Morgan.

Those facilities should have adequate security to protect its patrons,” Morgan said. “We believe that the security was inadequate, and they owed our client a duty to protect him, and they failed.

“I will tell you what – [Parkinson] is not interested in visiting a casino again,” Morgan added. “It has affected him, his mental health first of all. It is just a nightmare situation for anybody to survive and have to live through. It has affected his overall health.”

Cops Still Investigating

While Orange Park police have made no arrests in the case, they told News4Jax they were still investigating three suspects in the shooting. A Bestbet spokesperson said it’s company policy not to comment on an ongoing investigation.

In February 2024, another armed robbery occurred outside the venue when a player exited the property with around $20K in winnings. As he approached his car, a man held a gun to his head and took $7,000 out of his jacket pocket, according to news reports at the time.

Police later arrested 21-year-old Sean Evans in connection with the incident after the suspect dropped his phone as he fled.