Crime & Safety

Bucks Man Told Twice to Leave Bar Prior to Shooting, Police Say

Witnesses described the alleged strip club shooter as calm and nonchalant prior to and seconds after two people were shot at the Horsham establishment Saturday evening.

Prior to Saturday's double shooting at a Horsham strip club, the Warrington man charged with injuring two of the bar's employees was asked twice to leave the bar, according to Horsham Police. 

A Double Visions bartender told Horsham Police that she did not know why 55-year-old Joseph Oesterle Thiers, the alleged shooter, was asked by the club's managers and sons of the owner, Phil and Jason Catagnus to leave the Easton Road bar Saturday evening prior to the 6:34 p.m. shooting, according to the affidavit of probable cause filed in Horsham's district court.

After Thiers heeded insistence from the managers to leave, the woman reportedly told Horsham Police that he returned 10 or 15 minutes later, entered through the rear door and walked "calmly" to the opening in the bar "where he raised his left arm with a gun in his hand," according to court documents. 

The woman said she tucked herself into the corner of the bar and heard two gunshots, according to court records. 

One of the entertainers at Double Visions described Thiers as a "semi-regular patron" and told Horsham Police that she let him in after he rang the buzzer for the rear door and reportedly told her, "I am looking for Phil," according to court records. 

After Thiers walked past her, she saw a revolver in his hand behind his back, the woman said in a written statement, according to police. 

A patron told Horsham Police that he had just returned to his seat when he saw an arm rise and "heard a pop." The man told police that he saw Thiers fire the second shot, according to court documents. 

After the shooting, the man told police he fled outside and saw Thiers "walk nonchalantly" back to his pickup truck. The man heard two or three more shots before allegedly seeing Thiers drive north onto Route 611 "like a normal person," according to the affidavit. 

Once police responded to the shooting, Thiers reportedly put the pedal to the metal, leading authorities on a high-speed chase into Warrington Township "at speeds of about 80 miles per hour," according to court documents.

Thiers failed to stop for officers' emergency lights and sirens, according to the affidavit. The pursuit came to an end in the driveway of 2297 Warwick Road in Warrington after police said Thiers exited his truck "and took up a position behind a tree."

Prior to his arrest, police said Thiers raised his hands gripping a pistol held level to his chest and fired one or two shots in their direction. In addition to the pistol, police said Thiers also had a holstered Smith and Wesson six-shot .22 caliber revolver on his right hip with six spent shell casings in the cylinder. 

Thiers, who is being held on $2.5 million bail, was charged with four felony counts of attempted homicide, 14 felony counts of aggravated assault, a felony count of fleeing or attempting to elude officer, as well as more than two dozen misdemeanor charges of simple assault, recklessly endangering another person and terroristic threats. 

A preliminary hearing before Horsham District Judge Harry J. Nesbitt III is scheduled for Nov. 7. 


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