Jurors in a Joliet murder trial were shown security camera videos on Wednesday depicting the fatal shooting of a bartender and the efforts by bar patrons to disarm the shooter.
Prosecutors showed the videos on the second day of the trial of Patrick Gleason, 63, of Crest Hill.
Gleason faces a charge of first-degree murder of Daniel Rios III, 52, the Joliet bartender who died in a 2018 shooting at Izzy’s bar in Joliet.
Gleason is also charged with attempted murder of Artis Henderson, a regular at Izzy’s bar, and aggravated battery of Thomas Izquierdo, the son of Izzy’s owner, Alfonso Izquierdo, who was shot in the incident.
After more than seven years, Gleason has elected to contest the charges in a jury trial.
In order to make their case, prosecutors showed the jury a security camera video showing a masked man, whom one witness identified as Gleason, shooting and killing Rios.
As the video was played, one woman sitting in the gallery rushed out of the courtroom while crying. Other people in the gallery were quietly crying and wiping away tears with tissues.
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After the masked man was seen on video gunning down Rios, he was next seen aiming his gun at Henderson, who made repeated attempts to evade him by ducking under a table.
The video showed another man tackling the masked man to the ground during a struggle to disarm him. The shooter’s mask comes off his face during the altercation.
Henderson is seen on the video kicking the shooter while another man is punching the shooter on and off until officers arrive on the scene.
On the witness stand, Henderson told the jury this was done because the man would not stop moving, and he appeared to be reaching for something.
Henderson testified to eventually gaining control of the gun, which was a Smith and Wesson semiautomatic handgun.
Thomas Izquierdo, who also testified on Wednesday, said he tried to disarm the masked man during the struggle, but he was shot in the process.
Thomas Izquierdo said he felt “pain and burning.”
“I walked away and I pulled out my phone to dial 911,” he said.
But Thomas Izquierdo said he passed out and woke up in a hospital. He said he suffered from a lot of pain and anxiety as a result of the shooting and the subsequent surgeries.
Henderson identified Gleason in court as the masked man who came into the bar and shot Rios and chased after him while aiming a gun at him.
“I was trying not to be a sitting target,” Henderson said.
Before the shooting took place, Henderson said he heard someone enter the bar but remain in the hallway for what seemed like five minutes.
Henderson said Rios went to check who had entered Izzy’s bar.
Henderson said he saw the man who entered lift up a firearm, fire off a shot, and he saw Rios drop to the floor immediately.
Henderson said he ran in the opposite direction but noticed a masked man chasing after him with a gun. He said he kept ducking to avoid the masked man.
“I saw him pointing a weapon at me and proceeding to,” Henderson said before he paused, “Well, I saw the barrel aiming my way.”
Henderson said his goal in that moment was to “not have that barrel aim my way.”
Henderson, who is 5-foot-7, tried to wrestle the much larger masked man to the ground. Jail records list Gleason’s height as 6-foot-2.
Henderson said the masked man was trying to push the gun toward his head, and he, in turn, pushed the gun away from him.
A Joliet police sergeant responded to the shooting and handcuffed the man, who was identified as the shooter by the patrons at the bar, according to Wednesday’s trial testimony.
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