HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (WHNT) — Juan Laws, the man charged with killing a Huntsville Police officer Tuesday, was already facing charges for shooting two people in downtown Huntsville last year.

The case was bound over to a Madison County grand jury, but there are no court records showing the case has been presented to the grand jury.

Family members of the two men shot in January 2022 outside of Sammy T’s in Huntsville, were stunned Tuesday night to see Laws has been charged with capital murder of a law enforcement officer.

News 19 spoke Wednesday to Trey Brown, one of the men who was shot that night and Rhonda Hughes, whose son was the other victim.

“We left Sammy T’s and one his buddies had bumped into one of my buddies leaving the bar,” Brown said. “And we went out into the road and the cops were already there. They had separated us. And we were parked in the Goodyear parking lot and we was headed to our cars to leave. When Laws had come up from behind us with his pistol and the cops was right in between us, was there, and he still pulled it out and shot six times. Two bullets hit me and my cousin.”

Brown said it all happened quickly.

“I didn’t realize I was even shot until I looked down and saw the blood coming out and seen my cousin laying on the ground,” he said.

His aunt Rhonda Hughes learned her son had been shot, and was facing surgery.

“That’s a call no mother wants to get,” Hughes said. “I can put that down as one of the worst nights of my life, not knowing the condition my son was going to be in when I got to the hospital.”

He was seriously injured, missed months of work, but is alive

“My son got shot in the leg, he now has a rod from his knee down to his ankle,” said Hughes.

Trey Brown was shot in the calf.

“The bullet is still in my leg, it’s on the back of my Achilles,” he said. “It took me weeks to get back to walking normal with it, being on my Achilles. And it took my cousin months with him having surgery and stuff.”

The police report says officers saw the shooting.

“One subject (Laws) separated from one of the groups and went to his vehicle to retrieve a handgun,” the report said. “Laws then approached that group and shoulder-checked another person in that group. That subject turned and pushed Laws off of him. The offender then pulled a black handgun out of his waistband and fired six rounds, hitting the victim and one other person. I witnessed Laws with the handgun in his hand as well as the muzzle flash from the first shot.”

The report says the shooting was captured on officers’ body cameras. The report says Laws put the gun back in his waistband and ran, but officers chased him and caught him.

He was charged with two counts of second-degree assault.

“He was apprehended and he was released on $6,000 bond, which meant $600 got him out within two hours,” Hughes said. “My son had not even had surgery and he was out.”

Hughes said she’s grateful for the police actions the night her son was shot, but wonders if the legal system had moved more quickly, could the tragedy that unfolded Tuesday have been prevented.

“We have not even been to court for my son and nephew and now he has killed an officer  … and you look at the situation of all the other people that were in danger at that apartment complex. These babies being dropped out of a window. I mean this should have never happened. I just don’t understand,” she said.

Huntsville Police Department records show Laws had 75 rounds of ammunition the night he was arrested outside of Sammy T’s.

Court records show he was in Madison County District Court last week and pleaded guilty to carrying a concealed weapon without a permit. That charge stemmed from March 2022, records show. He paid $300 in fines and court costs and had to turn in the gun. Arrest records show the gun he was charged with carrying last March was a Glock 9mm pistol.