On August 23, 2021, Francisco Escobedo, a 31-year-old Hispanic / Latino man from Phoenix, Arizona, was shot near the intersection of Central Avenue and Mohave Street just south of downtown. Emergency calls reported gunfire in the area, and Phoenix police officers arrived to find him suffering from at least one gunshot wound. He was taken to a nearby hospital, where he was later pronounced dead, and his death is recorded as the result of gun violence in Phoenix on that date.
According to investigators, a witness reported that Escobedo had been involved in a physical fight with another person shortly before the shooting. The confrontation took place in the same Central Avenue and Mohave Street area, and the gunfire followed that altercation. Police records and incident databases describe the episode as a homicide in which one firearm was used, with notations specifically highlighting that there had been fighting just before the shots were fired.
The person Escobedo was reportedly fighting with left the scene after the shooting. Law enforcement described the situation as an open homicide investigation and did not release identifying information or a detailed description of the individual involved. Incident summaries list an unidentified adult classified as the subject–suspect and note that this person was not reported injured, underscoring that whoever fired the weapon escaped apparent harm and has not been publicly identified.
Publicly available records and online case summaries compiled in the years since do not show any arrest connected to Escobedo’s killing, nor do they name a suspect. Case-tracking sites continue to list the homicide without resolution, and community posts as late as December 2024 express frustration about the lack of information or progress in the investigation. Memorial pages dedicated to Escobedo portray him as someone who “loved to make people laugh” and who was deeply loved by friends and family, with relatives mourning that he “left the world too early” and questioning why someone who was “trying to help” lost his life. As of the most recent updates in 2025, the killing remains publicly documented as an unsolved shooting, with no reported suspects in custody.
