Danny Rios' Killer Beaten Up Until Joliet Police Put Him In Handcuffs: Bar Patron Testifies

JOLIET, IL — Patrick Gleason covered his face with a black ski mask when he returned to Izzy's Bar with his loaded semi-automatic Smith & Wesson less than an hour after being thrown out of the Joliet bar after angering the customers with his cigarette smoking, according to trial testimony Thursday. In the corner of the bar, Mike Cullick — a Joliet native who grew up on Bluff Street, attended nearby St. Mary's Nativity and Joliet Central High School — was focused on playing Izzy's video gambling machines.

During Thursday's murder trial testimony, 34-year-old Cullick testified he was one of Izzy's regulars, saying he played a lot of competition pool at the neighborhood bar. He arrived around 12:30 a.m. on March 9, 2018, along with his roommate, Artis Henderson. The two friends drove to Izzy's together after frequenting Malnar's Tap earlier that Thursday's night.

"Because Artis said they had popcorn, so we went over there to have a beer," Cullick testified, referring to Izzy's Bar. Izzy's had a popcorn machine, and the popcorn was free for customers.

Prosecutor Jim Long asked Cullick about his memories of Izzy's bartender Danny Rios, whose life ended in gunfire inside the bar shortly after 1:10 a.m.

"I knew him ... He was a nice guy. We weren't like best friends, but he was a good dude. I don't know anything bad to say," Cullick told the jury.

Long showed the jury a photograph captured from Izzy's video surveillance cameras at 1:11 a.m.

"Me and Thomas (Izquierdo) at the gambling machines," Cullick testified. "I heard a gunshot ring out, and I thought, 'Oh shit!' I got down. I was kneeling down."

The video cameras showed Cullick trying to kneel down around the chairs by the slot machines. "Take cover from getting shot, I suppose," he testified. "Maybe hide my body, even though it probably wouldn't matter much."

The gunman donned a black ski mask and held a gun in his hand. After killing Rios inside the entrance door, the gunman headed directly toward Cullick's roommate, Henderson, the former U.S. Marine and ex-bartender in California.

As Cullick remained near the video slot machines, "I see Artis run across the bar and this guy chasing him. I know the gun went off (a second time) and we end up fighting the guy, Patrick Gleason, the guy right here in the white shirt."

Cullick told the jury he did not know Gleason's identity at the time. "I seen him come in. He had a mask on his face."

As Gleason tried to line up his barrel to shoot Henderson, who hid underneath several tables and chairs, Cullick joined Henderson in trying to disarm Gleason. During the struggle, Gleason's ski mask came off, revealing his face.

"He tried to shoot my friend," Cullick recalled. "Instinctively, I tried to keep him from hurting me and somebody else. He kept trying to fight."

Long asked if Cullick ever put his own hands on Gleason's pistol. "No. Both hands on his wrist so the gun couldn't be pointed at us," Cullick answered.

"Who had control of the firearm when Thomas was shot?"

"Patrick Gleason," the witness replied.

Cullick made it clear to the jury he did not see Gleason kill Rios.

"It sounded like it came from the hallway. Like a gunshot. It was overly loud."

According to testimony and surveillance footage, once Thomas, the owner's son, was shot in the abdomen, Cullick immediately overpowered Gleason. He took him down and began pummeling him, over and over, with forceful punches to his face.

As they waited for the police to arrive, Cullick testified he choked Gleason by the neck and kept "telling him to stop moving. I told Artis to kick him in the face ... I hit him in the head repeatedly."

Finally, Henderson gained control of Gleason's gun and called the Joliet police. Cullick said their main goal was "to keep the gun away from this guy and keep Artis from getting shot."

During the trial, Gleason's lawyers Jeff Tomczak and CJ Haney have suggested that Gleason did not actually shoot the bar owner's son, but that perhaps one of the regulars inside the bar, during the chaotic struggle, discharged the gun, causing Izquiero to suffer the gunshot to his stomach.

"It wasn't me or Artis. I can tell you my hand and Artis' hand were not on the trigger, so who else could it be?" Cullick answered Haney.

Cullick, who works as a Joliet union construction worker for Laborers Local 75, testified he refused to let Gleason get up off the floor until the Joliet police arrived and put the handcuffs on him.

By that point, Gleason's face was bloody and Gleason's blood got all over Cullick's jeans, shirts and shoes.

"I'm just watching this guy. He just shot somebody. Yeah, I'm trying to subdue him. He kept trying to struggle. I don't know if he's trying to poke me in the eyes. Even when we struggled, I tried to hit him as hard as I could."