A Tucson teen died Monday afternoon, a day after he was shot in the head in a drive-by shooting on the North Side.
Ricardo Varela, 15, was pronounced dead just before 3 p.m. at University Medical Center, said Sgt. Fabian Pacheco, a Tucson Police Department spokesman. No arrests have been made.
It's at least the third time this year that someone 16 or younger has suffered fatal gunshot wounds in Tucson crime incidents.
Of the eight homicides in the Tucson area this year, three have involved victims who were 15 or 16 years old. Other homicide victims were a 27-year-old man, a 21-year-old woman, a 20-year-old man, a 19-year-old man and an infant.
"It's somewhat out of the ordinary, but I wouldn't go so far as to say it's a trend, because we're only four weeks into the year," said Capt. Bill Richards, commander of Tucson police's Crimes Against Persons division.
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Varela, a freshman at Canyon Rose Academy, was shot as he played cards with relatives outside a home in the 800 block of Calle Matus, near West Grant Road and North 15th Avenue, Pacheco said.
There is no indication the boy was targeted, Richards said. No one else was injured.
The shots came from a white Cadillac Escalade — the four-door pickup type, not an SUV, Pacheco said.
"Ricardo was a great kid with a big heart," his family said in a statement through Homicide Survivors, an organization that assists grieving families. "Ricardo was a very good person who didn't deserve this."
He enjoyed music, being with friends and playing basketball and baseball.
Richards would not comment on why the house may have been targeted.
Police urged anyone with information to call 911 or 88-CRIME.
A fund has been set up to assist Varela's family. Donations can be sent to: Homicide Survivors Inc., Ricardo Varela Fund, 32 N. Stone Ave., Suite 1408, Tucson, AZ 85701.
In the first homicide of the year, Derreck Burruss, 16, was shot to death Jan. 5 when two teens tried to rob him and his friends at a bus stop near East 29th Street and South Wilmot Road, according to police and court documents.
Burruss and his friends did nothing to provoke the shooting, police said.
Anthony Richard Encinas, 18, and Raymond Godoy, 16, are in jail facing first-degree murder charges in connection with the slaying.
The city's gang unit is investigating the second homicide involving the shooting of a person 16 or younger.
Juan Carlos Garcia, 15, was killed when gunfire erupted about 7:30 p.m. Jan. 25 on the West Side at Vista del Pueblo Park, 1800 W. San Marcos Blvd., just southeast of Cholla High School, police said.
Police said that multiple shooters were involved in the gunfight and that Garcia was driven to a nearby convenience store, where he was picked up by an ambulance.
The shooting stemmed from a "beef over a relationship," Richards said. The gunfight was triggered by hard feelings over a family member and whom that family member was having a relationship with, Richards said.
Richards said homicides are tragic no matter the age of the victim, but he said "we have a series of tragic events so far this calendar year."
The shooting deaths of three children is alarming, he said, and the department will do what it can to keep violence among youths from becoming a trend.
Still Richards said there's no "magic pill" to prevent homicides or end youth violence.
Often the violence involves drugs or alcohol and a person with a gun in an emotional situation, he said. "It's conflict resolution through extreme violence," he said.
