Weekend wrap-up: Here are the biggest Arizona stories from Jan. 31-Feb. 2
Feb 2, 2020, 6:48 PM
The Stir Coffee Bar and Gin & Reel Speakeasy (Holly Beaupre Photo)
(Holly Beaupre Photo)
Local comedian and businessman Rick Bronson talked about his coffee and cocktails hybrid in north Phoenix, the now-retired Tempe police officer who fatally shot a fleeing 14-year-old boy in 2019 will not face criminal charges and gunfire broke out Thursday night during an altercation between former co-workers on a Phoenix bus.
Here are some stories that headlined the news cycle, both locally and nationally, over the weekend.
It’s part coffee shop, part speakeasy and now open in north Phoenix
Local comedian and businessman Rick Bronson is serious about his new venture, a coffee and cocktails hybrid in north Phoenix.
The Stir Coffee Shop and Gin & Reel Speakeasy opened this month down the street from Bronson’s comedy club in the upscale High Street development east of Desert Ridge Marketplace.
“The Stir and Gin & Reel is unlike anything in the north Phoenix/north Scottsdale area,” Bronson said in a press release.
Tempe police officer who fatally shot teen won’t face criminal charges
Joseph Jaen, the now-retired Tempe police officer who fatally shot a fleeing 14-year-old boy in 2019, will not face criminal charges, authorities said Friday.
Maricopa County Attorney Allister Adel said Jaen had reason to believe “he was in imminent danger” a little over a year ago when he shot shot Antonio Arce, who was running away down an alley while carrying an airsoft replica handgun he allegedly took from a truck.
“That day Officer Jaen did not see a 14-year-old boy with a replica,” Adel said. “He saw a suspect running through a neighborhood with a weapon” and made a split-second decision he thought was in the interest of public safety.
Gunfire breaks out during violent altercation on Phoenix bus
Gunfire broke out Thursday night during an altercation between former co-workers on a Phoenix bus, leaving one man hospitalized and two others facing charges, authorities said Friday.
A little before 6 p.m., 23-year-old Isaac Lujan and his 22-year-old brother were riding a Valley Metro bus near 19th Avenue and Bethany Home Road, as was 27-year-old Denzel Defils, according to the Phoenix Police Department.
Police said the men had previously been involved in a work-related dispute but didn’t provide details about the dispute.
The brothers allegedly physically attacked Defils, who allegedly pulled out a gun and fired, hitting the younger brother, whose name was not released, police said.
Feds: Man living in Arizona was al-Qaida leader
Federal authorities say they have arrested a Phoenix-area man suspected of killing two men while acting as a leader of al-Qaida in Iraq.
The Department of Justice said that 42-year-old Ali Yousif Ahmed Al-Nouri appeared before a magistrate judge on Friday for proceedings to extradite him to Iraq.
The department says the government there has charged Al-Nouri with two counts of murder in connection with a killing in 2006 in Fallujah.
Sinema, McSally stick with parties as impeachment witness motion fails
Arizona’s U.S. senators stayed on their sides of the aisle Friday afternoon in the highly anticipated vote on whether to call witnesses at President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial.
Democrat Kyrsten Sinema voted in favor of the motion to subpoena witnesses, and Republican Martha McSally voted against it.
There had been some speculation that Sinema wasn’t a solid yes because she’d refused to comment publicly. But that speculation proved to be unfounded.
The motion failed by a 51-49 margin, all but ensuring Trump’s quick acquittal in the nation’s third impeachment trial.
