Jasper Charles Neace, a 29-year-old Hispanic/Latino man, was fatally shot on the night of July 17, 2024, on Tucson’s north side. The shooting occurred shortly after 9:10 p.m. in front of 420 W. Prince Road, near North Oracle Road, at a gas station in the area. Tucson police officers responding to multiple 911 calls found Neace suffering from gunshot wounds.
Officers and Tucson Fire Department medics provided emergency aid before he was transported to Banner University Medical Center, where he died from his injuries. His family was subsequently notified of his death.
The circumstances surrounding the shooting were initially unclear. Investigators collected and processed evidence at the scene while waiting for additional forensic results. Detectives also believed that several people who had witnessed the shooting left before officers arrived, prompting police to publicly ask those witnesses and anyone else with information to come forward. In the immediate aftermath, authorities did not announce a suspect or explain what had led to the gunfire. A family member similarly described the reason for the shooting as unknown. Neace’s brother later remembered him as someone who had experienced homelessness and addiction but was trying to rebuild his life, had gone through rehabilitation, remained connected with his family, and hoped to move to Texas for a fresh start.
Although no suspect was named publicly during the first days of the investigation, Tucson homicide detectives soon developed 33-year-old Gilbert Joseph Martinez as a person of interest. On July 30, 2024, officers with the Tucson Police Department’s Operations Division West Community Response Team encountered Martinez and arrested him in connection with an unrelated weapons violation. He was charged as a prohibited possessor and booked into the Pima County Jail. Martinez remained incarcerated while homicide detectives continued examining evidence and interviewing witnesses concerning Neace’s killing.
The homicide investigation eventually led detectives back to Martinez. On January 9, 2025, after additional witness interviews and examination of evidence, Tucson Police homicide detectives determined that probable cause existed to accuse him of killing Neace. Detectives went to the Pima County Jail, where Martinez was still being held, and added a charge of first-degree murder. The development marked a significant change from the original investigation, when police had publicly reported that no suspect had been identified.
The criminal case ultimately did not end with a first-degree murder conviction. Martinez later pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in connection with the fatal shooting. On January 26, 2026, he was sentenced to 20 years in prison for the murder and received credit for 379 days already served. He also received an eight-year prison sentence for the prohibited-possessor weapons offense, with that sentence ordered to follow the murder sentence. The disposition meant that the man investigators first identified as a person of interest, then arrested on an unrelated gun offense and later charged with first-degree murder, ultimately accepted criminal responsibility through a guilty plea to second-degree murder and received decades of imprisonment for the cases connected to the investigation.
