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Fatal Shooting Results in Civil Lawsuit Against Maingate Bar & Grill, Bartender


— April 7, 2022

A bartender at Maingate Bar & Grill in Des Moines was recently named in a lawsuit filed after the death of Andrew Hall Sr.


Greyscale image of person pointing a gun at viewer; image by Max Kleinen, via Unsplash.com.
Greyscale image of person pointing a gun at viewer; image by Max Kleinen, via Unsplash.com.

A civil lawsuit was recently filed against a bartender at a Des Moines bar over a fatal December shooting. According to the suit, the bartender allegedly “served the underage shooter and tried to conceal his identity from the police.”

The incident happened back on December 2 in the parking lot of Maingate Bar & Grill. During the incident, Andrew Hall Sr., 46, was shot by Drake Armstrong, 17. Hall later died from his injuries on December 27. Armstrong was arrested immediately and charged with murder after Hall’s passing.

The suit was filed against Jessica Olson, 36. Since the incident, she has been charged with “supplying alcohol to an underage person and accessory after the fact of the shooting.” According to the criminal complaint, Olson “served Armstrong liquor shots before the shooting, despite knowing he was underage.” To make matters worse, she allegedly “drove Armstrong away from the scene and lied to investigators about having done so.”

The lawsuit was filed on March 14 on behalf of Hall’s son and names both Olson and Maingate as defendants. The suit also contains details of Armstrong’s “lengthy criminal history… including two prior cases in which he was charged with attempted murder, first in juvenile and later in adult court.” On top of that, Armstrong was “convicted as an adult of intimidation with a weapon and felon possessing a firearm.”

The suit claims Olson knew all of this when she served him alcohol at the bar. According to witness accounts, Armstrong was “extremely intoxicated at the time of the shooting…and was intoxicated past the point of legal liability.”

What prompted the shooting, though? What were the events leading up to Hall’s death? Well, according to the suit, Armstrong was actually attempting to leave the establishment and was “in the passenger seat of a vehicle driven by Hall’s son.” While in the vehicle, he got into an argument with Hall, got out of the vehicle, then shot Hall in the stomach. Hall’s son was left to watch the incident from the driver’s seat. Soon after, “Armstrong left with Olson in her vehicle.

Since the fatal incident, Armstrong “has been ordered detained in an adult facility and is scheduled for trial in August.” His legal team plans to argue that both his intoxication “and intervening and superseding causes of death mitigate his responsibility.” If he is convicted of first-degree murder after the trial, he will face life in prison.

Sources:

East side Des Moines bar, bartender sued over alleged role in fatal December shooting

Maingate Bar & Grill Sued For Shooting

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