INDIANAPOLIS — Police arrested a man accused of shooting a gun into Tiki Bob's earlier this month, causing panic in a popular bar district in downtown Indianapolis near Gainbridge Fieldhouse.
Court documents say 34-year-old Bill Aaron Jr., of Indianapolis, shot into the bar on Feb. 5, just two days before the owners of the bar announced they were shutting it down, citing "abhorrent behavior" that was contributing to the "violent crime plaguing" the city.
Court documents say Aaron was kicked out of the bar at around 1 a.m. for pouring alcohol on other people in the bar and breaking a bottle on the ground.
Aaron made threats to security, saying he was going to return and shoot at the bar. Documents say in one of the threats he said, "I'm going to come back and air this bitch out."
As he turned to leave, Aaron allegedly pointed at the security manager and said, "I got a problem with him."
The manager of the bar told Aaron police were out front and that he shouldn't make threats like that. Aaron responded with, "I'll shoot at the cops, too."
Security decided to close the business for the night just to be safe.
Documents say Aaron returned at around 2 a.m., a little over an hour after he was kicked out.
Surveillance video shows him in a ski mask walking toward the bar while his wife, who he was seen with when he was kicked out, tried to pull him away.
Documents say he walked up to the bar, pulled a gun from his pocket and fired a single shot into the bar.
This caused a large crowd of people to panic and run from the area, which documents say was "heavily populated" with people who had gone downtown for a night out.
The security manager told police he recognized the man who shot at the bar as Aaron, who was identified through Tiki Bob's scanning system to check for fake IDs.
He also said that he was close enough to Aaron to feel the "concussion" of the gunshot and he thought Aaron was shooting at him.
After the shooting, Aaron ran under the Meridian Street bridge and got away.
Investigators later discovered Aaron was on probation for battery with a deadly weapon.
Police pulled over a car he was in on the east side of Indianapolis, according to an arresting document that was filed Saturday, Feb. 11.
Aaron allegedly had drugs and a gun on him at the time.
He was taken to the police station where documents say he admitted to the shooting. He claimed his wife tugging on him caused him to shoot the gun.
Ten felony charges were filed against Aaron on Monday. It's unclear if those charges are related to the shooting.
The charges include:
- Dealing methamphetamine
- Dealing cocaine
- Dealing a narcotic drug
- Possession of methamphetamine
- Possession of cocaine
- Possession of a narcotic
- Unlawful possession of a firearm by a serious violent felon
- Dealing a Schedule IV controlled substance
- Possession of a controlled substance
- Dealing in marijuana
