Pablo Antonio Valenzuela, a 46-year-old Hispanic/Latino man, was shot in the early morning hours of June 22, 2021, on Tucson’s west side and later died from his injuries. He was wounded in the 1500 block of West Niagara Street, in an area described by police and local media as near St. Marys and Silverbell roads. Shortly before 5 a.m., Tucson police received a call from a man reporting that he had been shot, prompting officers to respond to West Niagara Street at about 4:50 a.m.
When officers arrived on scene, they learned that Valenzuela had already been taken from the location of the shooting to St. Mary’s Hospital for emergency treatment of gunshot wounds.
Because of the seriousness of his injuries, medical staff arranged for Valenzuela to be transferred from St. Mary’s Hospital to Banner University Medical Center in Tucson. Despite these efforts, he was pronounced dead at the second hospital later that day, and authorities formally classified his death as a homicide. Gun-violence tracking sites and local news outlets documented the case as a fatal shooting that occurred in Tucson on June 22, 2021, noting his name, age, and the west-side location of the incident as part of an ongoing homicide investigation.
In the days following the shooting, the Tucson Police Department and local media repeatedly emphasized that the investigation was active and that investigators were seeking help from the public. Initial reports stated that there were no suspects in the shooting and that details about how and why the attack occurred were limited. A subsequent report from KOLD News 13 specified that no suspects were in custody and urged anyone with information to contact the tip line 88-CRIME or submit information online, allowing tipsters to remain anonymous. Later case summaries compiled by CrimeSolversCentral, updated several years after the homicide, note that authorities classified the death as a homicide but indicate that information about any arrests, suspects, or motives remains unclear, reinforcing that no publicly reported arrest or named suspect has emerged in connection with Valenzuela’s killing.
