On Saturday, April 6th at 1:49 a.m., a gunshot was fired on Eigth Street outside of Colorado Ponga’s and Joel’s Bar.
According to the police report, there were at least four individuals participating in a physical fight in the street when the shot was fired. Police arrived on the scene within seconds afterward. No fatalities were reported.
Four men fled the scene in a white van and were caught on Santa Rita Drive, said Lt. Ray Shupe of the Durango Police, in a phone interview.
Two of the four men in the vehicle were identified. Serafin Carter, 23, from New Mexico and Jeremiah Wiggins III, 28, from Texas, were arrested and charged with a Class 5 Felony.
According to the report and the Colorado Revised Statutes, this charge included menace through endangerment of people and prohibited possession and use of a firearm under the influence of intoxication.
A Class Five Felony consists of a minimum of an 18 month sentence and a maximum of 25 months in jail.
Carter and Wiggins were checked in that night and held at the La Plata County jail with an unknown bond amount set. They will not be released if the bond is not paid.
There were at least five or six fights in the street that night, said Joel Devin, owner of Joel’s Bar, in a phone interview.
According to the police, there were several people in the street either participating in the physical fight or spectating.
The fighting started between dozens of people, and when the shot was fired everyone scattered, said Orion Chapman, the doorman at Joel’s Bar, in a phone interview.
The cause of the fight is still unknown because a full report is still being filed and processed.