The slaying of a 55-year-old Tucson man who was shot to death at a Southeast Side home Saturday may be drug-related, Tucson police said Monday.
Two men have been arrested in connection with the incident that left Anthony Montoya dead.
Ramiro Perez Jr., 28, has been identified as the shooter and was taken into custody Monday evening, said Sgt. Fabian Pacheco, a Tucson Police Department spokesman. He was expected to be booked into jail Monday night on suspicion of first-degree murder.
Another man was also taken into custody shortly after the shooting on Saturday, Pacheco said. Ruben A. Rodriguez, 18, was arrested on suspicion of aggravated assault and drive-by shooting, according to a police news release.
Rodriguez was in a Ford Excursion as it sped away from the house where the shooting took place, Pacheco said.
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Rodriguez fired from the Excursion at a Chevrolet Suburban being driven by a Montoya family member who chased the suspects from the scene, Pacheco said.
Rodriguez admitted to trying to shoot the relative, according to an interim complaint released Monday.
The incident started at about 12:30 p.m. Saturday when a man knocked on a door in the 7500 block of East Lurlene Drive, near East Golf Links and South Kolb roads, and asked for an unknown person, Pacheco said.
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, Pacheco said.
The girl shut the door and the gunman fired. A bullet slammed through the door and struck Montoya, who was standing nearby, Pacheco said.
The shooting wasn't random, and there's no indication the men went to the wrong house, Pacheco said. Montoya did not live there, he said.
A search of the home 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.
After the shooting, Montoya's relative jumped into the Suburban and chased the assailants, Pacheco said.
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, Pacheco said.
The SUV stopped there and three men jumped out, he said.
Two people in the southbound vehicle were detained by police, but one person — who investigators believe was Perez — was able to run away, Pacheco said.
Police booked Rodriguez into Pima County jail Saturday, Pacheco said. He was released the next day, without bond, to pretrial services, he said.
Perez, of Tucson, was taken into custody at a home near South Camino de la Tierra and West Valencia Road.
Online court records show that he has been arrested in the past on aggravated assault, criminal damage, a marijuana violation and weapons misconduct.
