On August 12, 2018, Juan E. “Geo” Valtierra Jr., a 19-year-old Hispanic / Latino male from Tolleson, Arizona, was shot to death near the intersection of 101st Avenue and Cordes Road on the west side of the Phoenix metropolitan area. Online memorials and case summaries describe how he was out in that area late at night when gunfire erupted, fatally wounding him and ending his life at the scene.
The location sits close to Tolleson and is commonly referred to in news coverage as part of the West Valley; reports note that he was killed in or near Tolleson, underscoring how the violence struck the small community where he grew up.
According to the Silent Witness case file, the shooting happened in the very early morning hours, around 12:30 a.m., and responding officers found that he had been shot and killed in the area of 101st Avenue and Cordes Road. That bulletin, which carries a reward of up to $1,000, lists the suspect simply as “unknown” and asks the public for any information that might help identify who was responsible. Crime-tracking and cold-case databases continue to record the case as unsolved, noting that there is no resolution and that investigators have not publicly disclosed a motive. A Spanish-language report from Telemundo Arizona, published more than a year after the killing, states that there had still been no arrests and no concrete leads on those responsible, echoing the family’s frustration that authorities had not yet been able to identify or apprehend any suspect or suspects.
Several years after the shooting, local television coverage shows that the case remains open and that his relatives continue to seek justice. In an interview with FOX 10 Phoenix, his father spoke about how he thinks of his son every day and described him as a wonderful kid whose life ended before his time, while appealing directly to the public for help so police can find the person who killed him. Online memorials, including a dedicated page on the National Gun Violence Memorial, invite people to light candles, share photos, and post memories, emphasizing that he is remembered not as a statistic but as a real person whose death left a deep void in his family and community. Despite the reward offer, repeated news coverage, and ongoing appeals from his loved ones in both English- and Spanish-language media, publicly available records as of the most recent updates indicate that no one has been arrested and no suspect has been officially named in connection with the killing.
