The Buffalo Soldier Gate at Fort Bliss, Texas is shown in this undated file photo. (Rose M. Thayer/Stars and Stripes)
EL PASO, Texas (Tribune News Service) — A Fort Bliss soldier was kicked out of a bar before a drive-by shooting on New Year’s in the Cincinnati Entertainment District, a state prosecutor said.
Lavonte Keshawn Henry, 26, who faces charges of driving while intoxicated and deadly conduct, appeared Thursday morning at a teleconference bond hearing.
No one was injured by the gunshots, which struck the front door and an outside wall of a bar at about 12 a.m. Jan. 1. The bar’s name was not disclosed.
Henry was upset after getting kicked out of the bar for fighting before allegedly driving past and firing four gunshots, Assistant District Attorney Adam Chevrier said at the online hearing.
El Paso police officers working in the nightlife district heard the gunfire and saw a car speeding down the 200 block of Baltimore Drive, police officials said.
Tactical Unit officers followed and stopped the car driven by Henry, who was ordered out of the vehicle at gunpoint, police said.
Henry allegedly had a .40-caliber handgun and spent bullet casings were found inside the car, police said. Henry was arrested at the scene on a DWI charge while an investigation into the shooting continued.
After Henry bonded out of jail in the DWI case, an arrest warrant was issued for him on the deadly conduct charge in connection with the shooting.
On Tuesday, police arrested Henry after he was handed over by Fort Bliss authorities. At the bond hearing, public defender and prosecution lawyers said that Henry is a soldier who lives in the barracks at the U.S. Army post.
Henry is being held at the El Paso County Jail in Downtown on a $30,000 bond, which Magistrate Judge Humberto Acosta declined to reduce at Thursday’s hearing, citing the safety of the community.
The New Year’s shooting was among the latest violence in the Cincinnati Entertainment District in the Kern Place neighborhood near the University of Texas at El Paso.
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