Club owner says he kneeled on patron amid brawl to stop alleged reach for guard’s weapon

Mariano Rendon, owner and host at Joe’s Volcano/El Volcán, testified during a criminal trial in the 187th District Court that on Aug. 20, 2023, he ran into a crowd he described as “wailing on somebody,” pushed people off and “put one knee on his stomach” to stop what Rendon said appeared to be a reach toward a security officer’s holster.

Rendon told the court the club’s security officer, Anthony Cochran, was on top of a patron later identified as Pablo Rodriguez and that "his hands were touching the holster," which prompted Rendon to place a knee on the patron’s midsection to create milliseconds for security to arrive. Rendon described the scene as dark and chaotic and said the club’s interior video footage was hazy and incomplete.

On the stand, Rendon described club operations and safety practices: the venue covers roughly 10,000 square feet, typically holds about 800–900 people at full capacity, and operates under Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission (TABC) closing rules that the staff enforces by removing beer buckets and picking up bottles between roughly 1:45 a.m. and 2:00 a.m. He said the club’s TABC-required minimum security runs three officers for the venue’s size but that he regularly tries to staff eight to 13 guards and uses porters to remove debris.

Rendon also testified that a security radio and a baton went missing after the fight. He said the radio’s GPS initially showed a location near the I‑10 and Loop 1604 area, then later pinged in Nixon, Texas, and that investigators and local officers were advised of those pings. "We started GPSing it," Rendon told the court when describing the effort to locate the missing radio.

Rendon said staff created a perimeter and that club surveillance and several phone-recorded videos captured only parts of the incident. He testified the clip admitted into evidence seemed edited and did not show him running up and removing people from the pile. Defense exhibits including photographs of injuries were admitted without objection during Rendon’s testimony.

The witness described a patron named Tina (referred to in testimony as Tina Jimenez) and others who were present that night; he said post-incident communications with patrons included efforts to de-escalate and, according to Rendon, at times moved toward settlement discussions for injuries. Rendon said a porter named Calvin suffered a dislocated shoulder and missed subsequent work because of injuries from the fight.

The state cross-examined Rendon about why he kneeled the patron rather than grabbing hands or otherwise securing the weapon; Rendon repeatedly said the incident unfolded in milliseconds, that multiple individuals were involved and that he feared a weapon could be used if the holster were accessed. The defense rested after Rendon’s testimony; the jury was excused and told to return for closing arguments on Monday at 9:30 a.m.