CHICAGO — A Villa Park man was sentenced to 20 years in prison Monday for a double-shooting that left a downtown Chicago nightclub bouncer dead and one of the club’s owners injured in 2019.
Armond Williams, 41, received the sentence from Judge Peggy Chiampas after pleading guilty to first-degree murder, according to clerk of court records. Prosecutors dropped 18 other felonies, including multiple counts of murder and attempted murder, in Williams’ plea deal.
Two other men accused of participating in the crime, 39-year-old Jon Poole and Michael Matthews, 45, continue to fight charges.
Prosecutors said the trouble began in late February 2019, when Matthews became upset with how one of Sound-Bar’s bouncers patted him down at the club’s entrance.
Early on March 8, 2019, Matthews and Williams returned to the club and got into an argument with doorman Thurman Bailey and other members of the bar’s staff, prosecutors have said.
An argument broke out at the club entrance and turned physical, with Williams punching Bailey, who pulled out a gun. That prompted Williams, a concealed-carry license holder, to pull out his own weapon and fire four rounds before he handed the gun to Poole, prosecutors alleged in 2019.
Poole fired nine more rounds, striking Bailey again and injuring club owner Mark Jurcyzk, according to the state’s initial allegations.
Bailey was able to return fire before succumbing to his injuries, but no one was struck by those shots, officials said.
Chicago’s police superintendent at the time, Eddie Johnson, issued a summary closure order for Sound-Bar four days after the shooting. The club reopened after developing a “Nuisance Abatement Plan” with the city.
Matthews, whose case is still pending, was not accused of personally firing any shots during the altercation. Instead, prosecutors charged him under an Illinois law that allowed individuals involved in a felonious action to be charged with murder if someone is killed during the commission of the crime. In Matthews’ case, the additional felony is forcible mob action.
Matthews and Poole are due back in court on October 31.
