In the late hours of a Tuesday night in Mesa, Arizona, a burst of gunfire shattered the quiet of an apartment complex on North 67th Street, forever altering the lives of one family. On November 1, 2022, 41-year-old Natishia Devin “Nati” Rivera Lazalde was inside an apartment with a man named Johnel Trinidad when her son arrived for a visit. The events that followed escalated into a tragic confrontation, the echoes of which would leave two people dead and a community in shock.
When
Mesa Police officers responded to multiple calls about the shooting at around 11:15 p.m., they discovered a harrowing scene. Beneath a stairwell outside one of the apartments lay Natishia and her husband, Ronnie Lazalde, both suffering from gunshot wounds. While Ronnie was pronounced deceased at the scene, paramedics rushed Natishia to a nearby hospital. Despite their efforts, she succumbed to her injuries in the early morning hours.
The investigation into the double homicide quickly pointed to 44-year-old Johnel Trinidad. Detectives determined that an altercation had occurred, leading to the fatal shootings. Trinidad was also injured in the incident, sustaining a gunshot wound to his leg. After receiving medical treatment, he was taken into police custody. Investigators, piecing together witness interviews, forensic evidence, and the sequence of events, found probable cause to arrest Trinidad. He was subsequently charged with two counts of manslaughter for the deaths of Natishia and Ronnie Lazalde, in addition to a charge of being a prohibited possessor of a firearm.
