Warrant issued for convicted killer accused of shooting gun Friday outside Marengo bar

A $300,000 warrant was issued Monday for the arrest of a convicted killer considered armed and dangerous accused of shooting a gun Friday night outside a restaurant in Marengo, according to McHenry County court records.

Rudy A. Villarreal Jr., 49, of Marengo, is charged with armed violence for allegedly firing three shots into the air “in the presence of multiple bystanders,” according to the criminal complaint.

The charge is a Class X felony, which can carry a sentence of decades in prison.

Villarreal also was charged with possessing a firearm as a felon, reckless discharge of a firearm, unlawful use of a weapon, possessing a firearm in a liquor establishment and violating an order of protection, according to the complaint.

Days before the alleged incident, he posted $1,000 of a $10,000 bond and was released from the McHenry County jail, where he was being held on charges of domestic battery and for failing to register as a violent offender against youth.

Villarreal, who also lists an Elgin address as his residence, is accused of taking a “firearm from his waist band and discharg[ing] three shots into the air” about 11 p.m. outside Taqueria La Placita 2, 228 S. State St., according to the complaint.

The complaint alleges that he was harassing someone who had requested an order of protection against him while at the restaurant and sought to intimidate them by firing the shots. A separate complaint alleges that late last month he slapped a woman across the face and choked her before taking her phone to prevent her from calling 911.

Villarreal was convicted of murder in 1995 in Cook County, according to the complaint and Sgt. Mike Martino, a spokesperson for the Elgin Police Department.

On Oct. 23, 1993, he shot and killed a man outside a bar in Elgin, the Chicago Tribune reported at the time of his sentencing. He was convicted and sentenced to 50 years in prison.

He was released from prison in 2018 and then served three years of mandatory supervised release, Illinois Department of Corrections spokesperson Kim Garecht said in an email.

He was not in custody at the jail as of Wednesday, according to the jail log.