In the late hours of a Thursday night in Tucson, Arizona, a verbal dispute in the hallway of an apartment complex at 55 N. 5th Ave. took a fatal turn. The argument, which occurred on April 29, 2021, escalated, culminating in the shooting death of 57-year-old Andre Michael Lee. When police responded to reports of the shooting at approximately 11:30 p.m., they discovered Lee inside an apartment with gunshot trauma. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
The man he had been arguing with had fled the location immediately after the shooting.
The investigation into the death of Andre Lee, a Black man, continued for two weeks as detectives from the Tucson Police Department pieced together the events of that night. Their efforts led them to identify a suspect in the fatal shooting. This individual was already in custody at the Pima County Jail on unrelated charges, which facilitated the next steps in the homicide investigation.
On May 13, 2021, the suspect was formally charged in connection with the death of Andre Lee. Ryan Cornelius Smith, a 41-year-old man, was arrested and booked into the Pima County Jail on one count of first-degree murder. The arrest brought a swift development to the case, providing a measure of progress in the quest for justice for Andre Michael Lee and his family. The investigation by the Tucson Police Department's homicide unit remains ongoing.
