An Illinois man was sentenced to one year on probation Tuesday for a 2018 shooting outside a Highland bar that wounded two patrons who were off-duty cops.
O’Neill Cruz-Burgos, 31, of Burnham, pleaded guilty on May 30 to battery resulting in bodily injury, a Class A misdemeanor.
Charges against then-bouncers Martin Rodriguez and Breanne Misner were dropped in 2019.
Cruz-Burgos was at Growlers Bar, 2816 Highway Ave., on May 19, 2018, when he stepped outside to take a call, an affidavit states. When he wasn’t let back in, he kept asking Rodriguez why.
Rodriguez kept refusing to let him in before he “forcibly removed” Cruz-Burgos. Their spat “spilled over into the parking lot” where they started “physically fighting,” the affidavit alleged.
Both the bar’s staff and customers — including two off-duty Gary and East Chicago police officers there as patrons — went to the parking lot to help.
Cruz-Burgos and his cousin, who was never charged, refused to leave and were “confrontational with bouncers,” the affidavit states.
The Gary officer alleged the cousin was “making gestures as if he had a weapon” and said “he had a weapon,” according to the affidavit.
“(The Gary officer) retrieved his own weapon,” the affidavit states. “(The Gary officer) then struck (the cousin) in (the) head with said weapon in an effort to subdue (the cousin).”
The Gary officer’s weapon fell to the ground and the officer, the cousin and Cruz-Burgos “jumped for the weapon,” court records state. The cousin and the Gary officer wrestled with each other on the ground, according to the affidavit, as Cruz-Burgos “picked up the gun, pointed it at (the Gary officer) and stated, ‘I told you I would kill you (expletive).’”
“Cruz-Burgos then fired several shots at (the Gary officer), one of which struck (the officer) and lodged in his arm,” the affidavit states.
When the shots were fired, the East Chicago officer “returned fire at Cruz-Burgos,” court records state.
“In exchange, Cruz-Burgos fired numerous shots at (the East Chicago officer) striking him in the head,” the affidavit states.
Both officers were taken to Methodist Hospital Northlake in Gary, the affidavit states. The East Chicago officer was then transferred to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, Illinois, due to “the severity of his injuries,” including “bleeding on the brain,” according to the affidavit.
Both officers were released from the hospital, police said.
Cruz-Burgos admitted he threw the gun into a sewer. He and his cousin ran from the bar and were later arrested.
A different cousin of Cruz-Burgos — Chris Ortiz — was charged with misdemeanor battery in the incident. Ortiz’s case was dismissed in 2019 after she finished a pre-trial diversion program.
colias@post-trib.com
Former Post-Tribune reporter Becky Jacobs contributed.
