In the winter evening chill of January 17, 2024, in Tucson, Arizona, a pre-arranged meeting at Manuel Herrera Jr. Park on South Fiesta Avenue took a fatal turn. Eighteen-year-old Daniel Anthony Arriaga, a Hispanic male, had gone to the park for what police described as a 'pre-planned transaction.' An argument erupted, and the encounter escalated to gunfire.
Arriaga was shot and discovered wounded in the back seat of a vehicle after the gunman had already fled the scene.
Emergency services were called to the park just after 7:15 p.m. Tucson police officers were the first to arrive and immediately began rendering aid to the unresponsive teenager. Medics from the Tucson Fire Department took over life-saving efforts and transported Arriaga to Banner University Medical Center with life-threatening injuries. Despite the medical attention he received, Daniel Anthony Arriaga succumbed to his injuries two days later, on January 19, 2024. In the wake of his death, his family made the decision to donate his organs, and an honor walk was held on January 22, 2024, to recognize this final act of giving.
The Tucson Police Department's Homicide Unit immediately began an investigation into the shooting. Through witness interviews and the collection of forensic evidence at the scene, detectives were able to identify a suspect in the killing. On January 24, 2024, they arrested 17-year-old Derick Ivan Hernandez Burruel on suspicion of first-degree murder and attempted robbery in connection with Arriaga's death. The Tucson Police Department's SWAT and Community Response Team located and apprehended Burruel near East Bilby Road, and he was subsequently booked into the Pima County Jail on a $1,000,000 bond.
