Casper Man Pleads Not Guilty to Pointing Gun at Nightclub Bouncer

A Casper man pleaded not guilty to pointing a handgun at a bouncer at a Mills nightclub in August during his arraignment in Natrona County District Court on Thursday.

Enrique Edward-Fabian Arriaga, 22, entered the plea to one felony count of aggravated assault and battery [punishable by up to 10 years imprisonment], and one misdemeanor count of carrying a firearm into a bar [punishable by up to six months in jail].

Judge Catherine Wilking will set a trial date for him, she said.

Arriaga is free on a $15,000 cash or surety bond.

The case started on Aug. 4, 2018, when a Natrona County Sheriff's sergeant and a Mills police officer responded to Racks Gentlemen's Club, 1910 Talc Road, for a report of man carrying a gun and chasing people in the parking lot, according to the affidavit of probable cause.

The Mills officer saw a white passenger car with three suspects leave the parking lot and drive to Interstate 25, where he stopped the car after backup arrived. The occupants were detained, the sheriff's sergeant and the officer cleared the vehicle and saw a handgun in the glovebox.

The sheriff's sergeant interviewed the club's bouncer, who said he saw three Hispanic men trying to pick a fight with another man.

The bouncer broke up the fight, but soon the three men tried to pick a fight again, so he started pushing them out the door. One of the men dared the bouncer to push him again, the bouncer said, "'or what?'" and the man pulled a handgun from his waistband, racked the slide, pointed it at the bouncer, and said, "'this is what.'"

The bouncer pushed the man outside and he fell backwards over a railing.

The bouncer went inside, received a baseball bat, went outside and saw the three men -- one of them holding a gun -- chasing another man. The bouncer later saw the man being chased sitting in a car and crying.

Sheriff's Sgt. Aaron Shatto interviewed two of the men who were detained, and one of them said the gun was his. They also gave various versions of a story about wanting a cigarette from a man, and then later argued with him.

One of them said that Arriaga used his gun during the altercation with the bouncer.

All three said they had been to a couple other bars before going to Racks, according to the affidavit.

Arriaga said during an interview that he had fallen asleep before being interviewed and that he forgets things, according to the affidavit. "Arriaga explained they were just sitting there when they began to get pushed out by the bouncer for no reason," according to the affidavit.

The man who was driving car during the incident consented to a search, where they found two handguns, which had no ammunition in them. One handgun matched the bouncer's description of the one pointed at him.

Arriaga then was arrested.