Frustrations, lawsuit facing Roosters restaurant months after double murder

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- The families of the two men killed at a Louisville Roosters restaurant in December are still searching for justice in the double murder case.

Karson Reitz, 21, is accused of fatally shooting 48-year-old Michael Miller and 51-year-old Bradley Cross at the Preston Highway Roosters location on Dec. 23. Court documents state Reitz was seen on surveillance video shooting the two men inside the crowded dining room. A bartender who witnessed the incident said the restaurant was packed that night, and that there was a fistfight between Reitz and Miller before the shooting.

Months after the shooting, Miller's family is still grappling with the trauma.

"It has just been extremely hard on us," said Mike Miller's stepmother, Deborah.

The Miller family is pushing for change after frustrations with how the case has been handled - and the Cross family is suing the restaurant.

Reitz pleaded not guilty to two counts of murder in Jefferson District Court in December. His original bond was set at $1 million, but according to online court documents, it was eventually reduced to $425,000. At the time of this writing he is out of jail on home incarceration.

"He's at home enjoying good meals and the company of his family," Deborah Miller said. "We never get to do that again, and we're very angry about this."

The family of Cross, who was also shot to death, has filed a lawsuit against the sports bar, claiming that the owners failed to do what they could to prevent it.

The lawsuit was filed in Jefferson Circuit Court April 8 by Cross' family against Roosters; RC Landlords, the property owner; and Reitz. It alleges that the shootings were "reasonably foreseeable" by all the defendants, and that Roosters and the landowner failed to prevent the shootings by -- among other things -- not having proper security, failing to intervene in the fight and by allowing the men to become intoxicated.

"We have reason to believe that Roosters knew about the issue that was going on," said attorney Jim Ballinger. "In the issue in question it didn't just happen sporadically. It had been brewing all night long."

Ballinger and Thomas Clay are representing the Cross family.

According to the attorneys, an altercation between Miller and Reitz went on for quite some time before the shooting.

"There was an altercation between an individual and the shooter that had been simmering for a while, there had been words prior to the shooting, there had been blows exchanged and the shooter actually went out to a truck and returned with what we believe to be the the weapon used in these two homicides," Clay said.

Attorneys representing the Cross family suspect there was no security presence at all inside the restaurant.

"I don't believe (Roosters) had any security there," Ballinger mentioned. "So, they should've had security there that should've been adequately trained. Everyone that works there should know to watch for warning signs when things like this are percolating between well-known patrons that come in there."

They say Cross, the other victim, was not involved.

Cross' family is asking for a judge to award them damages for -- among other things -- medical expenses, funeral and burial expenses, lost wages and damages for past and future suffering.

Lawsuits represent only one side of a story. WDRB has reached out to Roosters. The restaurant declined to comment.

Related Stories: