Pat’s King of Steaks sued over fatal 2021 shooting

Pat’s King of Steaks should employ private security to protect its customers — and doing so could have prevented the fatal shooting of a 22-year-old man killed during an argument outside the iconic South Philadelphia cheesesteak restaurant in 2021.

That’s what’s argued in a lawsuit filed this week by the family of the man, David Padro Jr., in the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas.

The suit claims Pat’s management knew it had a history of unruly patrons and that security could have intervened to save Padro’s life.

A spokesperson for Pat’s King of Steaks declined to comment when reached Thursday.

“When you’ve got a business, when you’re making money, attracting people, you have a legal obligation to keep your patrons safe,” said Alan Feldman, one of Padro’s lawyers. “That’s the law in Pennsylvania — and that’s what Pat’s was obligated to do.”

The lawsuit comes several months after a 37-year-old Reading man pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter and illegal possession of a firearm for shooting Padro once in the chest outside the restaurant as the two men brawled over a parking spot on July 22, 2021.

A 38-year-old woman, the man’s girlfriend, pleaded guilty to simple assault and reckless endangerment for striking Padro with a metal container shortly before Burkert shot him.

Initial reports suggested that Paul Burkert shot Padro after a dispute over the Eagles and the New York Giants.

Video footage taken from nearby surveillance cameras, however, shows the spat began after Padro’s vehicle pulled up to a parking spot outside Pat’s and bumped into Burkert’s van around 12:45 a.m.

Burkert, who’d been in line ordering food, approached Padro and the two exchanged terse words. Burkert then walked to his van and returned to the argument. Padro, at that point, charged Burkert and put him in a headlock.

During the scuffle, Burkert pulled a 9mm firearm from his waistband and fired once into Padro’s chest, sending him stumbling into Ninth Street.

Padro was pronounced dead at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital shortly before 1:30 a.m.

“He had a big smile, a big personality, and an even bigger heart,”David Padro Gonzalez said of his son at a news conference Thursday. “David was a victim of a preventable shooting.”

A spokesperson for Feldman Shepherd Wohlgelernter Tanner Weinstock Dodig LLP, the firm filing the lawsuit, said Padro Jr. had a bright future ahead of him and was greatly missed.

The Padro family lawsuit alleges a Pat’s employee working at the counter overheard the argument, including when Burkert was “blowing [Padro] a kiss and grabbing his crotch” and chose to ignore it.

The lawsuit also suggests that Pat’s is aware of violent conflicts between its patrons in the late night and early morning hours.

Andrew Mitnick, another of Padro’s lawyers, said those customers were often intoxicated as they stopped at the restaurant after sports games, concerts, and nightclub outings.

“They want that business,” Mitnick said of the restaurant. “And when those people come to Pat’s, they can sometimes get unruly.”

Lawyers drew connections between Padro’s killing and two other incidents that took place outside of Pat’s, including the nonfatal stabbing of a 20-year-old man outside of Pat’s from 2016 and a nonfatal shooting from 2020 when a man fired several rounds into the air.

Mitnick added that other businesses, such as the Apple store in Center City, have security guards on their premises. He suggested that a dedicated Philadelphia police officer could also have curbed violence.

Padro’s family seeks at least $50,000 in damages.