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Police identify Punta Gorda pub shooting suspect

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Posted at 6:57 PM, Jan 24, 2022
and last updated 2022-01-25 05:56:53-05

PUNTA GORDA, Fla. — Punta Gorda Police continue to investigate a shooting outside Celtic Ray Public House on Friday.

Police confirm they identified the suspect and that there is an active warrant for the arrest of Carlos Colon-Parrilla, saying they have reason to believe he fled the area and are asking anyone with information on his whereabouts to all Crime Stoppers.

Shortly after the man now identified as Parrilla was kicked out of the bar, police say he drove around the building and started shooting. One of those bullets went through the wall of the office.

The owners of the pub are glad that no one was physically hurt.

"I think he was just a loose cannon so to speak," says Kevin Doyle, the President & Co-Owner of Celtic Ray Public House.

"The guy came in here a stranger to us and he came in belligerent and angry I think he had just got kicked out from somewhere and our staff refused to serve him they have training courses every 3 months about over serving and they just don’t do it it’s illegal for one thing. He got even more belligerent."

The owners say the video from the pub's security cameras show the male driving around the front of the building and shooting at the pub seconds later.

Police say witnesses described seeing the male using what's described as an AR-15 style rifle.

Doyle says his pub is filled with regulars on any given night. One of them is Deb Crandall.

"I’ve never heard anything like that happen in here before," she said. "We’ve been coming here for probably 25, 28 years. We wanted to come down and show them support today. It’s a nice place, a nice hangout. You can sit at a table with kids and you don’t feel like you're in a bar.”

Crandall plans to continue coming to the pub like many other patrons seen on Monday afternoon.

"That was a freak thing, some bad temper, hopefully people will forget as quickly as it happened,” she said.

Doyle says these holes can be patched up, and that he is glad nobody was hurt.

“I don’t care if the building got destroyed. I hope they catch [Parrilla] and put him away so the world's a safer place."