A late-night fight outside a popular Arlington restaurant Thursday escalated into a shooting that left one man hospitalized, an off-duty police officer assaulted and several others injured in one of the more chaotic incidents the city has seen at a restaurant parking lot in recent memory.
Officers were called just after 10 p.m. to the parking lot of Pluckers Wing Bar in the 4000 block of Bagpiper Way, where two groups had begun fighting. Police said the incident began when a group of men was ejected from the restaurant and started fighting in the parking lot. A separate group of teenage males walked by, and for unknown reasons the two groups began fighting each other.
An off-duty officer from another agency who had been dining at the restaurant went outside and attempted to break up the fight. Two men, identified as 45-year-old Justin Wallace and 32-year-old Adrian Martinez, began assaulting the officer. The officer identified himself as law enforcement, but the two men continued the assault. The officer was eventually able to get away and was not seriously injured.
As the fight continued, 18-year-old Jonathan Ybarra, who was part of the second group, pulled out a handgun and pistol-whipped Martinez before firing several shots at the ground. The person who was shot was brought inside the restaurant by others seeking help and was treated for non-life-threatening injuries. Several others involved in the brawl also sustained non-life-threatening injuries.
A suspect was taken into custody at the scene. The altercation took place outside the restaurant and did not involve the interior of the business itself. Arlington police have not released information about the charges the suspect may face. The investigation is ongoing.