Richardson Bartender Recalls Terrifying Stabbing Attack at Good Vibes Bar and Grill
Nearly three months after a violent stabbing at a Richardson bar left four people hospitalized and ended with a police shooting, the primary victim is sharing her harrowing account of survival and the long road to recovery.
Feliciana Cansino was working her shift at Good Vibes Bar and Grill on May 7 when 28-year-old Stephen Kwembe walked in armed with a knife. She recognized him immediately as someone she had previously asked to leave the establishment.
Kwembe wasted no time confronting Cansino about being turned away during that earlier visit. He climbed over the bar and told her directly that she would die that night over a refusal to serve him alcohol.
Before arriving at the bar Kwembe had already called 911 and made his intentions clear to dispatchers. In the recorded call he stated that police would have to kill him or he would take as many lives as possible.
Cansino was stabbed seven times during the attack. Three customers who stepped in to protect her were also seriously wounded in the chaos.
She described those regulars as more than just patrons saying they risked their own lives to save hers and that she will be forever grateful for their courage.
Richardson police responded to the scene and a standoff followed. Kwembe died shortly after the attack as a result of that confrontation with officers.
While Cansino’s physical injuries are gradually healing she says the emotional damage has proven far more difficult to process. She has not returned to work since the attack.
Community members rallied around her in the immediate aftermath helping cover the costs of her intensive care unit stay. However ongoing medical appointments and therapy sessions are creating a growing financial burden she was not prepared to handle.
Cansino noted that as a bartender she did not carry health insurance and has been left questioning who bears responsibility for the mounting bills tied to her continued treatment.
She also expressed a deeper struggle to make sense of the violence saying she cannot understand what drove Kwembe to such an extreme reaction over being denied a drink. She described the motive as seeming like nothing to her yet resulting in life-altering consequences.
Despite everything Cansino says she hopes to one day return to bartending a profession she has dedicated 15 years of her life to. Her resilience in speaking publicly about the attack reflects both the trauma she endured and her determination to reclaim her life.
