Local News

Motorcycle gang members sentenced for 2020 shootout in Arvada

By Logan Smith

April 13, 2024 / 7:51 PM MDT / CBS Colorado

Court cases recently ended for nine men involved in a 2020 shootout between rival motorcycle gangs that left one dead, three shot, and several others physically beaten - including a good Samaritan who tried to help one of the injured.

That good Samaritan, Ryan McPhearson, will live with a traumatic brain injury for the rest of his life.

McPhearson was the lead singer for the rock band Nightwolf which was playing at Jake's Roadhouse, 5980 Lamar Street in Arvada, the night of July 11, 2020. It was one of the band's first gigs since resuming performances they'd halted due to the COVID pandemic.

The band had played its first set when patrons began to notice a commotion outside.

Someone said, "Man, there's something going on," said a witness who was at Jake's that night. "It sounded like gunshots."

Many of the bar's patrons walked to a side patio.

McPhearson, however, walked out the front door.

Ryan McPhearson, second from left, performing with the band Nightwolf in an undated file photo. Nightwolf

"Help me, somebody help me! I've been shot!" cried a man lying in the street next to a fallen motorcycle, according to the witness.

Realizing the intensity of the ongoing "rampage," as the witness called it, the bar patrons returned to the protection of the building.

But McPhearson walked into Lamar Street to assist the man in the street.

"Our singer Ryan went out to have a cigarette," Nightwolfguitarish Jay Halpern told CBS News Colorado. "He noticed somebody had been shot and had fallen over on his motorcycle and he went over there to help him."

Most bar patrons didn't know McPhearson had tried to help the injured man until they saw another man attacking McPhearson. The attacker stood over the prone McPhearson, repeatedly striking him with a helmet, as described by the witness.

Patrons and friends ran out to McPhearson. His attacker had already left.

"We're trying to take care of Ryan," the witness said, "and we're hearing bikes rolling all through the neighborhood. We thought, 'OK, this is pretty bizarre.'"

The witness believes McPhearson, at 6-foot-4, weighing 300 pounds and wearing black clothing that night, may have been mistaken by his attacker as a member of a rival gang.

Ryan McPhearson performing in an undated file photo. Nightwolf

Farther way, other downed motorcycles and riders could be seen along a four-block stretch of Lamar Street, the witness stated.

The witness preferred to remain anonymous out of fear of retribution from members of the motorcycle gangs.

McPhearson was hospitalized in critical condition after the incident. He had a traumatic brain injury and several broken bones; in addition to the head strikes, he had been run over by a motorcycle.

An anonymous source stated that McPhearson has partially recovered since the attack and has even resumed his musical career locally - but with difficulty. CBS News Colorado tried contacting McPhearson but was unsuccessful.

William Kelly Henderson, a ranking Hells Angel member, according to police, died during the shooting. Henderson, an Arvada resident, lived about a mile from Jake's Roadhouse.

The night of the incident, Arvada Police Department responded to the scene. It was soon joined by resources from the Colorado Bureau of Investigation and U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Eventually, investigators identified 10 suspects, all members of the Mongols and Hells Angels motorcycle gangs. They were all arrested the same day in January 2022 in Colorado, Utah, California and Florida.

Nine of them were prosecuted on felony charges.

An Arvada PD press release announcing the sentencing of the last defendant called the Mongols and Hells Angels "two of the largest and most violent outlaw motorcycle gangs in the world."

"This was a case of pure evil," stated Arvada PD Chief Ed Brady in the press release, "and our community will not tolerate it. I am incredibly proud of our entire department's efforts and perseverance to seek justice, and the assistance from several professional law enforcement agencies."

Previous reporting from police and media indicated the incident started at Jake's Roadhouse. That was not the case, according to its owner, Doug Jacobsen.

The witness who was there that night said the same: "The (injured) guy just happened to fall off his bike in front of Jake's."

Gregory Lawrence Moore, 32, of Fort Collins pleaded guilty in February to one felony count of Racketeering. Thirty-five other counts, including murder, were dismissed. Moore was sentenced April 5 to 27 years in the Colorado Department of Corrections for his role in the fatal July 2020 shootout between Hells Angels and Mongol motorcycles gangs. Arvada Police Department

Leon Matthew Dennis, 50, of Denver pleaded guilty in March 2023 to one felony count of Racketeering. Leon was sentenced in May 2023 to 24 years in the Colorado Department of Corrections for his role in the fatal July 2020 shootout between Hells Angels and Mongol motorcycles gangs. Arvada Police Department

Jared Chadwick, 40, of Aurora, pleaded guilty in November 2022 to Tampering with or Destroying Physical Evidence. Chadwick was sentencing in March to 90 days in jail but was credited with 90 days already spent behind bars. He was also sentenced to 90 days probation. Arvada Police Department

Saint George Gonzales, 33, of Glendale, Arizona, pleaded guilty in December 2022 to Tampering with Physical Evidence. He was immediately sentenced to two years probation. Arvada Police Department

Kenneth Wayne Tischler, 42, of Westminster, pleaded guilty in January 2023 to Tampering with Physical Evidence. He was immediately sentenced to two years probation. Arvada Police Department

Vincent James Dominguez, 36, of Durham, North Carolina, pleaded guilty in March 2023 to 2nd Degree Assault with a Deadly Weapon. He was sentenced two months later to five years in the Colorado Department of Corrections. Arvada Police Department

Phillip Raymond Garcia, 36, of Whittier, California, pleaded guilty in July 2023 to Tampering with Physical Evidence. He was sentenced that month to three and a half years probation. Arvada Police Department

Daniel Ruben Goint, 32, of Pomona, California, pleaded guilty in December 2023 to 2nd Degree Assault with a Deadly Weapon. He was sentenced in January to eight years in the Colorado Department of Corrections. Arvada Police Department

Rafael Vargas Lozano, 32, of Redlands, California, pleaded guilty in July 2022 to Tampering with Physical Evidence. He was sentenced in September 2022 to three years probation. Arvada Police Department

Logan Smith

Logan Smith is an assignment desk editor at CBS Colorado in Denver with more than 30 years of journalism experience in digital, television and print media.