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| Councilman Nick Ibarra is jailed tonight (mug shot GCSO) |
Springfield City Councilman Nicholas "Nick" Ibarra is in the Greene County jail on a 24 hour investigative hold after police were called to Ibarra's residence about 4 p.m. today (1-1-12) in response to a domestic disturbance.
Springfield police Lt. Roger Moore says at the conclusion of the investigation Ibarra was arrested on probable cause of felony unlawful use of a weapon.
On Thanksgiving Ibarra was the center of an investigation involving an alleged drunk driving and road rage incident in which two men were injured. The Missouri Highway Patrol is investigating the incident and no charges have been filed related to that case.
UPDATE 01-02-12:
Greene County Prosecutor Dan Patterson charged Ibarra today (01-02-12) with felony unlawful use of a weapon.
According to court documents, Ibarra allegedly threatened to kill himself and his wife with a handgun yesterday afternoon (01-01-12) before police were called. " KMI (Ibarra's wife) told Ibarra that she was going to leave and he retrieved a handgun from the living room coffee table. Ibarra inserted the magazine in the handgun and pulled the slide back, cycling a round into the gun's chamber. KMI asked Ibarra if he was going to shoot her and he stated, No, I'm going to kill myself. Ibarra raised the gun barrel up to his temple, then placed the barrel in his mouth. "
As KMI was retrieving personal items from the laundry room, "Ibarra pointed the gun at her, then back at him. KMI told Ibarra she would call 911 if he didn't put the gun away and he stated, Then you are going to die."
Court documents say that as Ibarra's wife tried to persuade him to put the gun away he said, "One of us is going to die today; I need to contemplate who it is going to be." Ibarra then demanded his wife give him her cell phone but she refused.
It is alleged that Ibarra then gave his wife to the count of three to turn over her phone or, "he would shoot her in the foot." As the count wound down, "Ibarra approached his wife in the bathroom and pointed the gun at her feet."
Ibarra then "exited the bathroom, unloaded the gun and put it on a nightstand. KMI got the gun, walked back into the bathroom, shut the door, and called 911."
When officers responded to the 911 call they found a Glock model 19 handgun on the bathroom floor and an unfired 9mm Luger bullet on the floor to the left of the front door and a second unfired bullet under the Christmas tree in the living room.
KMI showed one of the responding officer's a text message she had received earlier from Ibarra that said, "I never thght I would be in a world where I seriously contmlate making 10 bullets 8. But I also never thght u would do this either."
When the officers spoke to Ibarra, "he said he was in an argument with KMI and denied having or pointing the gun at her. Ibarra was arrested and taken to jail.
After being read his Miranda rights Ibarra allegedly, "admitted to having the firearm but denied pointing or threatening KMI with it." Ibarra said he was "mad and admitted sending KMI the text message."
His bond has been set at $25,000 and the decision on whether Ibarra, who was elected to a four year term in 2009, remains on city council at this point lies with Ibarra himself.
The moral turpitude clause in the city charter would only apply in the case of a conviction and it can sometime take up to two years for a case like this to make its way through the court system.
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The charging document filed with the probable cause statement asked for the following stipulations:
“Defendant threatened wife with shooting prior to incident via text then threatened to kill himself or her in person while displaying a loaded handgun and pointing gun at himself and her.
“Defendant had been drinking and has a recent history of unpredictable and dangerous behavior while drinking. Defendant presents a threat to himself, to the victim and to members of the community.
“Defendant committed this offense knowing he is currently under investigation for a road rage type incident by the Springfield Police Department and Missouri State Highway Patrol.”
In addition to standard bond conditions, if freed Ibarra will be:
• Prohibited from possessing any firearms or living in a resident where firearms are present;
• Prohibited from possessing or consuming alochol or being on the premises anywhere alcohol is the primary item for sale;
• Required to wear an alcohol monitoring ankle bracelet;
• Prohibited from contacting his wife.
1 comments:
You have an amazing blog. Here's to your best year ever, 2012!
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