Convicted killer charged with domestic violence, shooting gun outside Marengo restaurant in custody

A convicted killer accused of firing a gun in the air outside a Marengo restaurant last week was arrested Wednesday night by Elgin police, the Marengo Police Department said.

Rudy A. Villarreal Jr., 49, of Marengo, who had been sought by police since an arrest warrant was issued Monday, remained in the custody of the McHenry County jail as of Thursday morning, according to the jail log.

Villarreal is charged with armed violence for allegedly firing three shots into the air “in the presence of multiple bystanders,” according to the criminal complaint filed in the McHenry County courthouse.

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

He 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, Villarreal posted $1,000 of a $10,000 bond and was released from the McHenry County jail where he was being held on domestic battery charges and for failing to register with the state’s Murderer and Violent Offender Against Youth Registry.

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 then 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 Cook County in 1995, according to the complaint and Sgt. Mike Martino, a spokesperson for the Elgin Police Department.

On Oct. 23, 1993, he shot and killed another 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.

Villarreal, due in court Monday for a bond hearing, is being held in the county jail on $300,000 bond. He must post $30,000 to be released.