One of two suspects accused of killing four people and wounding more in Kansas City, Kansas, has been captured, said police.
Javier Alatorre, 23, was was arrested in Kansas City, Missouri, on the evening of Sunday, Oct. 6, according to a news release from police in Kansas City.
Hugo Villanueva-Morales, 29, is still on the loose, and police consider him armed and dangerous.
They were both charged with four counts of murder for a mass shooting inside a Kansas City bar over the weekend. Officials believe the shooting stemmed from an earlier dispute.
Bond for each suspect was set at $1 million, police said.
Police in Kansas City, Kansas, released photos of two men on Oct. 6, saying they possibly connected to the mass shooting over the weekend. (Kansas City, Kansas Police)
Kansas City police spokesperson Thomas Tomasic said the pair got into an argument with people inside the Tequilla KC bar. Then, they returned with handguns and opened fire.
“We think there was something that happened in the bar earlier probably,” Tomasic told CBS News. “Unfortunately, they left and decided to take it to another level, came back and started shooting” into a crowd of patrons.
Approximately 40 people were in the bar as the shooting unfolded, officials said.
“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 added.
Police said that the four slain victims were Hispanic. Their identities have not been publicly released.
Meanwhile, Tomasic said that he doesn’t believe the shooting was racially or ideologically motivated.
Mexico’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Marcelo Ebrard, wrote on Twitter that two of the victims were Mexican nationals.
Shay Celedon, a bar patron who left hours before the shooting took place, said that one of the victims was planning to get married.
“None of it really seems real right now. We were sitting here yesterday evening, having drinks with my best friend’s fiancé,” Celedon told CNN. “I go home, go to bed, get woken up two hours later that he’s deceased, and she held him till he took his last breath, and tried to bring him back and keep pressure on his gunshot wound. And it was just one fatal shot that took him from us.”
Kansas City, Kansas, Mayor David Alvey said he is praying for the victims’ families.
“The businesses and the families who live in these neighborhoods are growing in our community, and they deserve to feel safe in their neighborhoods,” Alvey told KSHB. “Their businesses deserve to be protected, and our police department really has done an outstanding job of working with the community to identify the problems and to come up with solutions.”
Anyone information should call the local Tips Hotline at 816-474-TIPS (8477).
Jack Phillips is a breaking news reporter with 15 years experience who started as a local New York City reporter. Having joined The Epoch Times' news team in 2009, Jack was born and raised near Modesto in California's Central Valley. Follow him on X: https://twitter.com/jackphillips5
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