Jesus Gonzalez Berrelleza, a 30-year-old male, was shot and killed on Tuesday evening, September 13, 2022, in the parking lot of a west Phoenix strip mall near 59th Avenue and McDowell Road. Officers found him with a gunshot wound, and he was pronounced dead at the scene. The shooting unfolded in Phoenix, Arizona, drawing a heavy police response as investigators began piecing together what had happened.
Detectives reviewed surveillance video from businesses around the strip mall and traced the violence to an argument that began earlier at a nearby restaurant. According to early information, the dispute involved Berrelleza and another man in his 20s. A teenage male then arrived; the man in his 20s retrieved a firearm from the teen’s vehicle, and moments later, shots were fired in the strip mall parking lot before the pair fled.
Police identified and arrested two suspects at different locations soon after. Twenty-year-old Gilberto Millan was booked into jail on a first-degree murder charge, and a teenage suspect was detained at a juvenile correction center on suspicion of facilitation to commit first-degree murder. Authorities said the investigation drew upon surveillance footage and witness accounts to rapidly locate the suspects.
Initial reports did not detail precisely what sparked the argument that led to the shooting, and it remained unclear what role, if any, a third, unidentified man seen during the dispute may have had. As the case moved forward, police emphasized the sequence—argument, arrival of the teen, retrieval of the gun, and the shooting—while noting that full circumstances were still being clarified.
