Man sentenced for role in 2019 mass shooting in KCK that killed 4, injured 5
A man convicted in a 2019 mass shooting at a Kansas City, Kansas bar 2019 was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole in Wyandotte County court Tuesday.
Hugo Alberto Villanueva-Morales will also serve an additional 757 months consecutively with the life sentence for his role in a shooting at Tequila KC that left four dead and five wounded, according to a press release from Wyandotte County District Attorney’s Office Public Information Officer Jonathan Carter.
A Wyandotte County jury convicted Villanueva-Morales in April of capital murder of more than one victim, attempted premeditated first-degree murder, criminal possession of a firearm and five counts of aggravated assault, according to previous reporting by The Star.
The shooting took place just after 1:30 a.m. on Oct. 6, 2019, at Tequila KC, according to a Kansas City, Kansas Police Department spokesperson. Officers witnessed several people running out of the bar at 1013 Central Ave. during the shooting.
Witnesses described two men, later identified as Villanueva-Morales and 29-year-old Javier Alatorre, entering the bar and opening fire into the crowd of 40 patrons.
Patrons thought the bar “was going to cave in” as the air filled with the smoke of gunfire, according to previous Star reporting.
Everardo Meza, 29; Alfredo Calderon Jr., 29; Francisco Garcia Anaya, 34; and Martin Rodriguez-Gonzalez, 58, were killed in the shooting.
Bartender Jose Valdez previously told The Star one of the men had been refused service earlier that night for previously causing issues at the bar. The man threw a cup at Valdez before leaving.
Another patron previously told The Star that it took four people to remove the man from the bar, and he started a fight with at least one person outside.
Alatorre was arrested in Kansas City, Missouri the day after the shooting, according to previous Star reporting.
He was sentenced to 22 years and three months in prison for his role in the shooting after pleading guilty to four counts of first-degree murder in December 2023.
Villanueva-Morales had been at-large for several weeks before he was arrested by state police in Michoacán in southwest Mexico.
Villanueva-Morales’ attorneys have filed a notice of appeal to the Kansas Supreme Court following his sentencing, according to Wyandotte County court documents.
