A former Fort Bliss soldier accused of opening fire outside an El Paso bar in 2023, killing two people celebrating their anniversary and wounding four others, has been sentenced to 35 years in prison after pleading guilty last month. Aaron John's sentence closes out the second and final chapter of a case that began with a parking lot brawl outside the Ditzy Duck Bar and ended with gunfire tearing through a crowd of friends and family.
John pleaded guilty on August 21 to murder and attempted capital murder, according to KFOX14/CBS4. Per KVIA, the plea agreement reduced John's original capital murder charges to murder, attempted capital murder of multiple persons, and attempted capital murder by terroristic threat, while prosecutors dismissed two additional counts. John received more than three years of credit for time already served at the El Paso County Jail Annex since his July 2023 arrest, and his sentence counts will run concurrently.
A Fight That Spilled Into the Parking Lot
The shooting happened on July 13, 2023, outside the Ditzy Duck Bar on Airway Boulevard, part of the Airway Plaza strip mall near El Paso International Airport. An argument escalated into a physical altercation involving both groups, and the confrontation moved from the bar's patio into the parking lot. Investigators said Andrew Williams opened fire on the group and brandished a handgun, while John fired his weapon into the air and at prospective witnesses during the chaos, according to the same KVIA report.
James Nicholson, 26, and Alexa Retana, 27, had been on the bar's patio with friends and family that night. Both died at the scene, per KFOX14/CBS4's reporting. KVIA reported that the couple had been out celebrating their anniversary when the fight broke out, and that Retana was initially transported to University Medical Center before her death, while Nicholson was pronounced dead at the scene. El Paso District Attorney James Montoya said the violence claimed two lives and wounded four others.
Four Others Wounded
Police identified the four surviving gunshot victims as Jason Webb, 25; Samuel Munoz, 27; John Retana, 28; and Sebastian Benecke, 30, according to KVIA's earlier coverage of the shooting. All four were treated for their injuries following the gunfire. Homicide investigators secured commercial surveillance footage from a neighboring business that helped detectives establish that both men had drawn handguns and fired into the crowd.
Caught Near a Fort Bliss Gate
Both John and Williams were active-duty soldiers stationed at Fort Bliss, and both were apprehended roughly eight miles from the bar after Fort Bliss Military Police stopped their getaway vehicle at the post's Constitution Gate, according to Task & Purpose. Base military police intercepted the vehicle based on descriptions relayed by El Paso police, illustrating the close coordination between civilian and military law enforcement in the arrests. The outlet noted the shooting came roughly nine months after Army Pvt. Craig Trevion Gooding was charged in the October 2022 fatal shooting of Staff Sgt. Jewllian Maurere outside another El Paso club, part of a pattern that had already prompted direct discussions between local judges and Fort Bliss command officers over soldier conduct off post.
Both men were initially held on $2.5 million bonds each following their July 2023 arrests. An El Paso district judge later reduced Williams' bond to $1.2 million and John's bond to $500,000 in October 2024 ahead of their trial dates, though both remained in custody at the jail annex throughout the pretrial period.
Two Different Outcomes for Two Co-Defendants
Williams, described by prosecutors as the primary shooter, pleaded guilty in El Paso's 384th District Court in July 2025, one day before his scheduled jury trial for murder and attempted capital murder. He received three concurrent life sentences requiring a mandatory minimum of 30 years before parole eligibility, as Hoodline reported at the time. John's 35-year term, with its pre-trial credit, gives him a comparatively different path than Williams' life sentence.
The gap between the two outcomes traces back to Texas law. Under Texas Penal Code § 19.03, a capital murder conviction carries a mandatory sentence of death or life without parole, according to Sam Cammack III Law. Pleading down to first-degree murder under § 19.02, however, permits parole eligibility under Texas's 3G felony rules after serving 30 years or half the sentence, the firm notes — a mechanism that lets prosecutors guarantee convictions in both cases while opening a path to parole for the defendants.
District Attorney James Montoya said both men who fired weapons that night were held accountable for their respective roles in the shooting.
Ongoing Scrutiny at the Same Strip Mall
The Ditzy Duck Bar's location has drawn law enforcement attention beyond the 2023 shooting. In December 2023, El Paso police arrested a man inside the bar after discovering two young children left unattended in a locked vehicle in the parking lot, KVIA reported at the time. The Airway Boulevard strip mall houses several nightlife venues in the airport corridor, an area that has remained under close watch since the deadly shooting.
