KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — One of two suspects in the fatal shooting of four people in a Kansas bar caused a disturbance two hours earlier that brought officers to the scene, but they couldn’t find him in the area, the interim police chief said Monday.
Michael York said Kansas City, Kansas, police were still searching for one suspect, Hugo Villanueva-Morales, 29, in connection with the shootings at the Tequila KC bar early Sunday that also wounded another five people. Officers arrested the second man, Javier Alatorre, 23, late Sunday afternoon.
The Kansas City Star reported that Alatorre was recently released from jail in Missouri, where he faced pending charges for tampering with a motor vehicle, possession of a controlled substance and resisting or interfering with arrest, detention or stop. A judge reduced his bail and released him on his own recognizance over the objections of prosecutors.
Police said both men have been charged with four counts of first-degree murder, and bail has been set at $1 million for each. Villaneuva-Morales is considered armed and dangerous.
Surveillance video shows Villanueva-Morales entering Tequila KC, where he got into an argument and was told to leave late Saturday, police said. It wasn’t clear whether Alatorre also was in the bar during the argument.
York said officers went to the area late Saturday to investigate the disturbance but couldn’t find the suspect. He said officers remained in the area “doing their patrol duties.”
“They cleared the call and then two hours later, he returns back,” York told reporters during a news conference. “But we had no information that he was going to return back.”
Bartender Jose Valdez told The Star that he had refused to serve one of the suspects because the man had previously caused problems at the bar. Valdez said the man threw a cup at him and left, but that he returned later with another man shortly before closing time.
Authorities identified the four people killed as Francisco Anaya-Garcia, 34; Alfredo Calderon, 29; Ebar Meza-Aguirre, 29, Martin Rodriguez-Gonzalez, 58.
All of those killed were Hispanic, and two were Mexican citizens, that country’s foreign relations secretary, Marcelo Ebrard, said Sunday on Twitter. He did not identify the two but said the Mexican government would support their families.
Authorities have said they do not believe the shooting was racially motivated. The shooting happened in a neighborhood with a large Hispanic population.
“The investigation is leading us to believe that it was not random,” York said.
Family members told The Kansas City Star that Calderon owned a heating and cooling business for several years and was the devoted father of a 6-year-old son and 4-year-old daughter. They said he went to the bar to watch a boxing match.
“He cared about those babies so much,” recalled sister-in-law Celeste Trevino. “Those babies need their dad.”
Trevino also said that Meza-Aguirre pushed her to the floor when the gunfire started, and she believes it is why she survived. Meza was a regular at the bar, and it was where he and friends usually watched the Kansas City Royals and Kansas City Chiefs. Friends had plans to catch a game there Sunday, said Toni Maciel, Trevino’s cousin.
“He’s always going to be a hero in my eyes,” Maciel said.
Around 40 people were inside the small bar when gunfire erupted, police spokesman Thomas Tomasic said. The gun shots sent people running for the exits, with the injured leaving trails of blood as they fled. Two of the wounded were treated and released and three others remained hospitalized in stable condition, he said.
Alatorre is jailed again in Missouri after he was arrested without incident at a home that court records listed as his place of residence. He does not yet have an attorney.
Alatorre will have an initial court appearance in the coming days in Kansas, said Wyandotte County District Attorney’s Office spokesman Jonathan Carter. Carter said it’s too soon to determine whether prosecutors will consider the death penalty in the case.
Villanueva-Morales had a pending third-degree assault charge in Missouri. It stemmed from an incident in August outside a club in which an off-duty sheriff’s deputy reported that left both men bloodied.
Alatorre had past convictions for fleeing or attempting to elude law enforcement in Kansas and for driving while intoxicated in Missouri, in addition to the pending charges in Missouri.
In 2017, an court order barred Alatorre from abusing, stalking and possessing a firearm after a woman who had a child with him reported physical abuse and threats. It expired in February 2018.
Alatorre’s mother, Teresa Minerva Alatorre, declined to comment when reached by phone.
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KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — The Latest on a bar shooting in Kansas that left four dead and five others wounded (all times local):
Police say two suspects in a Kansas City, Kansas, bar shooting that left four people dead and five wounded had each faced criminal charges in Missouri.
Police announced early Monday that 23-year-old Javier Alatorre was arrested Sunday afternoon in Kansas City, Missouri, while 29-year-old Hugo Villanueva-Morales is still at large. Both men have been charged with four counts of first-degree murder.
Villanueva-Morales had a pending third-degree assault charge in Missouri. Court documents say he fought with a sheriff’s deputy in August after another man was ordered to leave a club in Kansas City, Missouri.
Alatorre, meanwhile, faced several charges stemming from a police chase. An order of protection also was issued against him in 2017.
Alatorre’s mother, Teresa Minerva Alatorre, declined to comment when reached by phone.
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KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — One of the two men accused of opening fire inside a Kansas bar early Sunday, killing four people and wounding five others, was arrested Sunday afternoon while the other remained at large, police said.
Javier Alatorre, 23, and Hugo Villanueva-Morales, 29, were each charged with four counts of first-degree murder, police in Kansas City, Kansas, said in an early Monday release. Alatorre was arrested late Sunday afternoon in Kansas City, Missouri, but police were still looking for Villanueva-Morales, considered “armed and dangerous.”
Bail for each was set at $1 million. The release says Alatorre was arrested with the help of the FBI, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and police in Kansas City, Missouri. A prosecutor’s office spokesman didn’t immediately respond to an email asking whether he has an attorney.
Villanueva-Morales and Alatorre each faced criminal charges in Missouri, and Alatorre’s criminal record also included previous convictions, according to online court records in Missouri and online Department of Corrections records in Kansas.
Villanueva-Morales had a pending third-degree assault charge in Missouri. Alatorre, meanwhile, had past convictions for fleeing or attempting to elude law enforcement in Kansas and for driving while intoxicated in Missouri. He also had pending charges in Missouri for tampering with a motor vehicle, possession of a controlled substance and resisting or interfering with arrest, detention or stop. And in 2017, an order of protection had been ordered, barring him from abusing, stalking and possessing a firearm.
The two men apparently had a disagreement with people inside Tequila KC bar, left, and then returned with handguns, police spokesman Officer Thomas Tomasic had said.
“We think there was something that happened in the bar earlier probably,” Tomasic had said. “Unfortunately, they left and decided to take it to another level, came back and started shooting.”
Around 40 people were inside the small bar when gunfire erupted around 1:30 a.m., Tomasic had said. The gunfire sent people running for the exits, with the injured leaving trails of blood as they fled. One of the injured was trying to get a ride to the hospital when ambulances arrived.
“It’s a pretty small bar, so if you have two guys come in and start shooting, people are just running, running anywhere they can,” Tomasic had said.
All four men who were killed were Hispanic, but Tomasic had said authorities did not believe the shooting was racially motivated. The shooting happened in a neighborhood with a large Hispanic population.
Among the dead was a man in his late 50s, another in his mid-30s and two in their mid-20s, police said. Authorities did not immediately release their names.
However, Juan Ramirez, of Kansas City, Kansas, told The Kansas City Star that his 29-year-old nephew was among those killed. He said his nephew left behind a 6-year-old son and a 4-year-old daughter.
“I don’t wish this upon anybody,” Ramirez said.
Bartender Jose Valdez told the newspaper that he had refused to serve one of the suspects on Saturday night because the man had previously caused problems at the bar. Valdez said the man threw a cup at him and left, but returned later with another man shortly before closing time.
The gunfire created smoke inside the business, Valdez said, and he thought the building was “going to cave in.”
Valdez said three of the people killed were regulars whose parents also frequented the neighborhood bar.
“I don’t know what to make of it. A sad day for everybody who lost their lives and their families,” he said, choking up. “How can you go into a place full of people and just start shooting?”
The state’s congregational delegation also weighed in, with Republican Sens. Jerry Moran and Pat Roberts and Democratic Rep. Sharice Davids describing the shooting as “senseless.”
KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — Police have identified two suspects in a Kansas bar shooting that left four people dead and five others wounded.
Police in Kansas City, Kansas, announced early Monday that 23-year-old Javier Alatorre was arrested Sunday afternoon in Kansas City, Missouri, while 29-year-old Hugo Villanueva-Morales is still at large.
Both men have been charged with four counts of first-degree murder. Authorities had said the two men had apparently gotten into some sort of disagreement with people inside Tequila KC Bar, left, then returned with handguns early Sunday. Around 40 people were inside the small bar when gunfire erupted around 1:30 a.m.
Police say four men were killed. Their names weren’t immediately released.
It’s unclear whether Alatorre has a lawyer to comment on his behalf. Police say Villanueva-Morales is considered “armed and dangerous.”