A Whitehall man has been sentenced to up to 19.5 years in prison after pleading guilty to voluntary manslaughter in the fatal shooting of a 51-year-old customer inside a Columbus pub nearly four years ago. Armando Flores entered the plea to the lesser charge in connection with the January 2023 shooting inside Crazee Mule Pub and Grill, which left Rudy Tirado-Gonzalez dead.
According to NBC4, Flores pleaded guilty to the first-degree felony charge, and the remaining charges against him were dropped as part of the plea. He was sentenced to 14 to 19.5 years in prison and will undergo two to five years of post-release control once he is released, per court records cited by the station.
The case traces back to a fight that broke out inside the pub, located on the 6100 block of Cleveland Avenue, at about 11 p.m. on Jan. 23, 2023. NBC4 reports that about six other customers were inside the business at the time, and officers said the altercation led directly to the shooting that killed Tirado-Gonzalez. Paramedics took him to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 11:38 p.m. that night, according to officers cited by the station.
Conflicting Reports on Flores' Age and Background
NBC4's report identifies Flores as a 29-year-old Whitehall man. That account differs from earlier reporting by The Columbus Dispatch, which identified him as a 25-year-old from Columbus' Northeast Side shortly after the shooting. The dossier of reporting on this case does not resolve the discrepancy.
The Dispatch, citing a Franklin County Municipal Court affidavit, reported that security video from the bar showed Tirado-Gonzalez arguing with Flores before Flores pulled out a firearm and fired multiple rounds. Flores was not immediately taken into custody after the shooting. ABC6 reported that he was arrested on Feb. 3, 2023, after Columbus SWAT officers executed a search warrant roughly two weeks after the shooting. He was arrested and charged that February with voluntary manslaughter, murder, illegal possession of a firearm and having a weapon under disability, before the plea deal resolved the case this week to the lesser manslaughter count.
Victim Was a Well-Known Columbus Restaurant Owner
Tirado-Gonzalez owned Rudy's Food Drink and Sports on West Fifth Avenue, according to ABC6's reporting at the time of his death. A separate report from MundoNow dated the shooting to Jan. 22, 2023, rather than Jan. 23 as reported elsewhere, a discrepancy the dossier of reporting does not reconcile. MundoNow also noted that, at the time of its report, 2,678 people had died from gunfire in the United States so far that year.
The shooting was one of several fatal gun incidents at Columbus-area bars and clubs reported around that period. The Dispatch noted that Charles Foster, 24, was arrested in connection with a separate New Year's Day shooting at a Mifflin Township gentleman's club that killed 28-year-old Charles Westbrook and wounded four others, an incident unrelated to the Crazee Mule case but reported in the same timeframe.
