Phoenix Cops Shot At By Bar Patron Who They Asked To Leave

PHOENIX — A man who had been asked to leave a Phoenix bar early Sunday morning shot at two off-duty, but uniformed, members of the Phoenix Police Department, according to a news release. The man fled the scene but was later found and arrested, police said.

Police said an officer and sergeant were working at the bar near 96th Avenue and Camelback Road around 12:40 a.m. when a woman told them her ex-boyfriend followed her there from another bar in the area.

Later on, the officers saw the ex-boyfriend — later identified as 32-year-old Jesse Allen Villasaez — inside a fenced patio area of the bar arguing with the woman. The officers and bar staff asked Villasaez to leave, and the officers walked him to the parking lot, police said.

When Villasaez began to drive away, he turned to drive behind the bar, police said. It was then when he fired "several rounds" of a gun toward the officers, who fired back. No one was struck by the gunfire, police said.

Police found Villasaez later on Sunday and took him into custody while he was getting out of a car that belongs to a family member.

Specific charges facing Villasaez had not been released as of Monday, although police said he was booked on "numerous charges."