The Weld County case moved from a November 2024 shooting to an April prison sentence.
GREELEY, Colo. — The criminal case against Jimmy Cazares ended its trial-court phase with a 96-year prison sentence after jurors convicted him of firing 59 shots into a Greeley bar.
The sentence followed a February verdict that found Cazares, 33, guilty of all charges tied to the shooting at Wyler’s Pub and Brew. The case turned on a direct timeline: a fight inside the bar, removal by bartenders, a return about 40 minutes later and gunfire into the business. One female employee was shot multiple times, including in the neck. A second woman was in the direct line of fire but was not hit. Both survived, and prosecutors used their survival statements and the physical evidence to seek a decades-long prison term.
The first public step in the case came on Nov. 30, 2024, when Greeley police responded to reports of a shooting at Wyler’s Pub and Brew in the 2300 block of 27th Street. Officers arrived to find an employee wounded inside the bar. Investigators identified another victim inside who had not been struck but had been in the path of the shots. The case then moved from emergency response into evidence collection and charging. Prosecutors later said Cazares had been removed from the bar for fighting about 40 minutes before the shots were fired. That gap became central to the state’s theory that the shooting was not an accident or a sudden single act. It was, prosecutors said, a return to the same business after a dispute and a volley of 59 rounds into a place where people remained.
By February 2026, the case was before a Weld County jury. Jurors convicted Cazares of two counts of attempted murder after deliberation involving a deadly weapon and two counts of attempted murder due to extreme indifference with a deadly weapon. The verdict also included possession of a weapon by a previous offender, possession of an unserialized weapon, criminal mischief causing damages of more than $20,000 but not more than $100,000 and two drug-related counts. Those verdicts covered both the danger to people and the damage to property. They also reflected the legal weight of the weapon allegations. Prosecutors did not release a detailed public summary of the defense case, and the sentencing announcement did not state whether Cazares testified or made a statement before he was sentenced.
On April 15, 2026, Weld County District Court Judge Annette Kundelius sentenced Cazares to 96 years in the Colorado Department of Corrections. Prosecutors said he could have faced as much as 134 years under the law. Deputy District Attorney Lacy Wells and Deputy District Attorney Mikaela Fatzinger handled the prosecution. Wells told the court that the absence of a death did not make the shooting less grave. “It’s only by the grace of God that no one was killed that night,” Wells said. “He gunned down two women at a local, community establishment and clearly has no respect for human life.” Her statement framed the sentencing around risk as well as injury: the rounds that hit one woman, the rounds that missed another and the possibility that others could have died inside the bar.
The structure of the convictions helps explain the length of the sentence. Attempted murder after deliberation centers on an alleged intent formed before the act. Attempted murder due to extreme indifference centers on conduct showing a grave risk to human life. The jury found both theories applied to the two victims. The weapon-by-previous-offender count added a status-based firearms offense. The unserialized weapon count showed jurors also accepted evidence about the type or legal condition of the weapon. The criminal mischief count addressed the damage caused to the bar itself. The drug-related counts added separate criminal findings beyond the shooting. The public record did not include the judge’s full sentencing remarks, but the 96-year term showed that the court treated the combined convictions as a severe attack on both individuals and a public business.
The victims’ statements gave the sentencing hearing its human record. One victim said she could not have imagined being shot at while at the bar. “My life changed forever that night,” she said. “I firmly believe I died for a brief moment.” Prosecutors said she had been shot multiple times, including in the neck. The second victim was not struck but was identified as having been in the direct line of fire. In court, Wells said the effects would continue long after the case file closed. “Damage didn’t stop when the bullets stopped,” Wells said. “These victims of this horrific and senseless crime will live with the mental, emotional and physical damage the rest of their lives.” The comments showed how sentencing in the case covered more than the number of bullets or charges.
Wyler’s Pub and Brew was not described by officials as a random target. It was the place from which Cazares had been removed after a fight, prosecutors said. That link between the earlier disturbance and the later shooting gave the case a tight timeline and a clear setting. The bar’s address in Greeley placed the violence within Weld County, and the prosecution stayed in the 19th Judicial District court system. The public announcements did not provide the names of the bartenders who removed Cazares, the full list of witnesses or the exact time officers arrived. They also did not say how many shell casings were recovered outside the business. The figure released by prosecutors was that Cazares fired 59 shots into the bar, a number that shaped headlines and sentencing arguments.
With sentencing complete, the case stands on the jury’s February verdicts and Kundelius’ April 15 order. Any appeal would come through later court filings, but no such step was listed in the public sentencing notice. Cazares’ sentence is now set at 96 years in state prison.
Author note: Last updated May 9, 2026.