SAPD worked with other local and state law enforcement agencies after a minor allegedly circulated a threat on Instagram to shoot up school campuses. Credit: Shutterstock / Schmidt_Alex

The suspect arrested over the weekend on charges that he fired a gun during a massive brawl outside a pair of popular downtown bars was charged last year in relation to a homicide case, KSAT reports.

San Antonio police arrested Joseph Olivarri, 37, last Sunday on charges of unlawful carry of a weapon with a felony conviction, discharging a weapon in a municipality of more than 100,000 residents and theft of a firearm.

Police say Olivarri discharged a firearm in the parking lot of Bar House San Antonio, 820 N. Alamo St., as a street fight broke out around closing time.

It wasn’t Olivarri’s first tangle with San Antonio-area law enforcement, according to KSAT.

Last year, Olivarri faced charges connected to the March 2024 death of Joshua Cuellar, who died in a shooting during a fight outside a bar on the 1900 block of Southwest Military Drive, the TV station reports.

Authorities arrested Olivarri after tipsters told San Antonio Crime Stoppers he bragged about the shooting and said he “shot anyone who got in his way,” KSAT reports, citing an arrest affidavit.

Police also believed that shell casings found at the scene of Cuellar’s fatal shooting were also connected with two other shootings, the affidavit cited by the news station said.

Even so, the Bexar County District Attorney’s Office eventually dropped the murder charge against Olivarri, citing the need for further investigation, according to KSAT. The station emailed the DA’s Office for more details on why the case didn’t move forward and got no response by press time.

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This article appears in Feb 19-25, 2025.

Michael Karlis is a multimedia journalist at the San Antonio Current, whose coverage in print and on social media focuses on local and state politics. He is a graduate of American University in Washington,...