Desi Leigh Ortiz, an 18-year-old male from Pueblo, Colorado, died on June 1, 2026, after a shooting on Pueblo’s east side. The incident unfolded early that afternoon near the 2100 block of Oakshire Lane, in the area of the Loaf N Jug near the Highway 50 and Troy Avenue interchange. Police said the city’s ShotSpotter system detected gunfire at about 1:19 p.m., almost the same time dispatchers began receiving multiple 911 calls reporting that someone had been shot.
After the shooting,
a vehicle connected to the incident left the Oakshire Lane area and drove several blocks away, stopping near the 1500 block of Constitution Road, close to Pueblo East High School. The driver remained there and waited for police officers and emergency medical personnel because Ortiz, who was the passenger, had suffered a gunshot wound. Witnesses nearby described the sudden arrival of the vehicle and the realization that what first seemed like a possible crash was actually a much more serious emergency. Officers and medics rendered aid, and Ortiz was rushed to UCHealth Parkview Medical Center, also reported as Parkview Emergency Room, where he later died from his injuries.
The shooting happened close enough to Pueblo East High School that school and police officials placed the campus on a secure perimeter as officers searched the area. Authorities did not immediately say whether Ortiz, the suspect, or anyone else involved had any connection to the school. The killing was identified as Pueblo’s ninth homicide of 2026, a higher pace than the city had seen at the same point the year before.
Ortiz was identified by the Pueblo County Coroner’s Office on June 2, 2026, after next of kin were notified. His obituary said he was born in Pueblo on November 16, 2007, to Leigh Stefan Ortiz and Kia Joy Hawley. He was remembered as a young person with family ties in Pueblo, survived by his mother, brothers, grandparents, other relatives, and his love, Mariah Bernal. His father and great-grandmother preceded him in death.
A 17-year-old boy turned himself in to the Pueblo Police Department later on the day of the shooting. Because the suspect is a juvenile, public reports did not identify him by name. Police said he was arrested and charged with first-degree murder and attempted first-degree murder in connection with the shooting. The attempted murder charge indicates investigators believed there was another intended or endangered victim beyond Ortiz, though public reports did not provide a detailed account of the alleged motive or the circumstances that led up to the gunfire.
As of the available reports, the case remained under investigation by the Pueblo Police Department and the Pueblo County Coroner’s Office. No trial outcome, conviction, or sentencing information was available in the online sources reviewed.
