Prosecutors said the bullets turned a fight outside a pub into an attempted murder case.
GREELEY, Colo. — Fifty-nine shots fired into Wyler’s Pub and Brew became the central fact behind a 96-year prison sentence for Jimmy Cazares in Weld County District Court.
The number stood at the center of the case because it showed the size of the attack prosecutors said followed a bar fight. Cazares, 33, had been kicked out of the Greeley business about 40 minutes before the shooting, prosecutors said. He later returned and fired into the bar from outside. One female employee was struck multiple times, including once in the neck, and another woman was in the direct line of fire. Both survived. A jury convicted Cazares in February, and Judge Annette Kundelius imposed the prison term April 15.
The shooting happened Nov. 30, 2024, at Wyler’s Pub and Brew in the 2300 block of 27th Street. Police responded after reports of gunfire and found the wounded employee. The public record released by prosecutors did not describe the full scene inside the bar, but the charges and sentencing statements showed the scale of the damage. The criminal mischief conviction covered more than $20,000 but not more than $100,000 in damage. The attempted murder convictions covered two victims: the employee who was hit and the woman who was not hit but was in the path of the rounds. In a case involving 59 shots, the difference between injury and death was treated by prosecutors as a matter of survival, not a sign that the attack was limited. Deputy District Attorney Lacy Wells said no one died only by “the grace of God.”
The case began, according to prosecutors, with conduct inside the bar rather than at the doorway or in the parking lot. Bartenders removed Cazares for fighting. About 40 minutes later, the shooting was reported. That time gap mattered because jurors were asked to decide attempted murder after deliberation as well as attempted murder due to extreme indifference. The jury convicted him of two counts under each theory involving a deadly weapon. It also convicted him of possession of a weapon by a previous offender and possession of an unserialized weapon. The verdicts show that the prosecution persuaded jurors not only that Cazares fired the shots but also that the shooting met higher legal standards tied to intent, risk and weapon possession. Officials did not release a full transcript of testimony or a detailed account of the defense position after sentencing.
The victims were not publicly named, but the sentencing hearing gave one of them a direct voice. “My life changed forever that night,” one victim said. “I never could have imagined I was being shot at. I firmly believe I died for a brief moment.” The words gave the court a personal account of the attack and became the most direct public description of what the gunfire meant inside the bar. Prosecutors said the employee had been hit multiple times, with one round striking her in the neck. The second victim’s injury was described through exposure to danger rather than a bullet wound: she was in the direct line of fire. Both women survived, but Wells told the court that survival did not end the harm. She said the victims would live with mental, emotional and physical damage for the rest of their lives.
The sentence also reflected the layered nature of the verdict. Cazares was not convicted only of firing into a building. He was convicted of attempted murder counts involving a deadly weapon, firearms offenses tied to his prior status and the weapon itself, a property damage offense and two drug-related counts. Prosecutors said the maximum possible sentence was 134 years. Kundelius imposed 96 years in the Colorado Department of Corrections, a term that signals a severe outcome even though the victims survived. The sentencing announcement did not say whether any counts were ordered to run at the same time or one after another, and it did not include the court’s full explanation of the sentence. It did make clear that the prison term came after a jury found Cazares guilty of every charge.
For Greeley, the case placed a familiar type of local business inside a violent criminal timeline. Wyler’s Pub and Brew was described by prosecutors as a local community establishment. The phrase mattered because the shooting followed a removal from the same place where employees were doing their jobs. It turned a workplace into a scene of gunfire and left the bar with tens of thousands of dollars in damage. The public summaries did not say how quickly the bar reopened or how many patrons were present that night. They also did not identify the employees who removed Cazares before the shooting. The known facts are narrower but stark: a fight, an ejection, a 40-minute interval, 59 shots, two victims, a February conviction and a 96-year sentence in April.
Wells and Deputy District Attorney Mikaela Fatzinger prosecuted the case for the Weld County District Attorney’s Office. Their public statements after sentencing focused on the danger to life and the lasting harm to victims. “He gunned down two women at a local, community establishment and clearly has no respect for human life,” Wells said. The sentence gives prosecutors the final trial-court result they sought after presenting the case to a jury. It also leaves some details outside the public record, including the complete evidence trail, the exact sequence of shots, the defendant’s statements, if any, and whether post-conviction litigation will follow. In AP-style terms, the case is no longer pending before a trial jury, but it may not be fully over if later appeals or motions are filed.
Cazares remains sentenced to 96 years after the April 15 hearing. The next milestone, if one occurs, would come through formal post-sentencing filings, while the victims’ public statements now stand as part of the court record of the shooting’s impact.
Author note: Last updated May 9, 2026.