Inset: Jimmy Cazares (Weld County District Attorney”s Office). Background: Wyler’s Pub and Brew in Greeley, Colorado (KUSA).
A Colorado judge sentenced a 33-year-old man to nearly a century behind bars for shooting into a bar 59 times, striking a bartender in the neck, because he was angry he got kicked out for fighting.
Jimmy Cazares was convicted in February of two counts of attempted murder, possession of a weapon by a previous offender and criminal mischief, among other charges, the Weld County District Attorney’s Office said. On Wednesday, Weld County District Court Judge Annette Kundelius sentenced Cazares to 96 years in prison.
Police in Greeley, which is about 60 miles northeast of Denver, responded on Nov. 30, 2024, to Wyler’s Pub and Brew for a shooting. When officers arrived on scene, they found a bartender suffering from multiple gunshot wounds, including one to the neck. Another woman, while not shot, was injured by being “in the direct line of fire,” prosecutors said.
Investigators later learned that employees kicked out Cazares for fighting. He returned about 40 minutes later and blasted off 59 shots into the bar from the outside.
“My life changed forever that night,” one of the victims said during Wednesday’s sentencing hearing. “I never could have imagined I was being shot at. I firmly believe I died for a brief moment.”
Cazares also was found guilty of drug-related charges.
“It’s only by the grace of God that no one was killed that night,” Deputy District Attorney Lacy Wells said. “He gunned down two women at a local, community establishment and clearly has no respect for human life.”
The defendant was facing up to 134 years in prison.
“Damage didn’t stop when the bullets stopped,” Wells said. “These victims of this horrific and senseless crime will live with the mental, emotional and physical damage the rest of their lives.”
