A 29-year-old Tucson man could spend the next 22 years in prison after pleading guilty Wednesday to second-degree murder.
Ramiro Perez Jr. will be sentenced in the slaying of Anthony Montoya by Pima County Superior Court Judge John Leonardo Jan. 27.
According to Tucson police, a man knocked on a door in the 7500 block of East Lurlene Drive, near East Golf Links and South Kolb roads, last April and asked for an unknown person.
A teenage girl answered the door and said no one by that name was at the residence. A man wearing a mask and armed with a handgun then walked in front of the door.
The girl shut the door and the gunman fired. A bullet slammed through the door and struck Montoya, who was visiting the home.
After the shooting, Montoya's relatives jumped into a Chevrolet Suburban and chased the assailants, who were in a Ford Excursion, police said.
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The Excursion crashed into a brick wall at the corner of South Prudence Road and East Lurlene, then continued south and slammed into another wall at South Prudence and East Victoria Drive, police said.
The SUV stopped there and three men jumped out.
Perez was later taken into custody at a home near South Camino de la Tierra and West Valencia Road.
Ruben A. Rodriguez, 19, was arrested on suspicion of aggravated assault and drive-by shooting.
Rodriguez was in the Ford Excursion as it sped away from the house and he admitted to shooting at Montoya’s family as they gave chase, court documents indicate.
He is still awaiting trial.
A search of the home where the shooting took place yielded bags with marijuana, marijuana residue, a marijuana pipe and two scales, according to a search warrant affidavit.
Police also seized two boxes of ammunition, a handgun, electrical tape and white pills, the document says.
