In the evening hours of January 8, 2018, a burst of gunfire shattered the quiet of a midtown Tucson apartment complex, leaving one man dead and two others seriously injured. Responding to multiple reports of gunshots at approximately 8:00 p.m., Tucson police officers arrived at the apartments located at 5171 East 29th Street. Inside one of the units, they discovered 37-year-old Christopher Gentry, a male, who had sustained obvious signs of gunshot trauma.
He was pronounced deceased at the scene.
As the investigation unfolded, the scene grew more complex. A second man with gunshot wounds was located on the ground at a neighboring apartment complex to the west, and a third wounded man was found at an apartment complex to the east. Both men were transported to a local hospital with serious injuries. Detectives determined that the three men had been struck by gunfire during an altercation that erupted inside the apartment where Gentry was found. The initial investigation suggested the shooting was not a random act of violence.
Over two months later, an arrest was made in connection with the homicide. On March 14, 2018, Tucson Police Department detectives, with the assistance of the U.S. Marshal's Fugitive Task Force, located and apprehended 34-year-old William Palmer at a local hotel. The investigation revealed that Palmer had been involved in an incident with two other men earlier in the day. Seeking them out, he went to the apartment on 29th Street where Christopher Gentry and several other men were present. Upon entering, Palmer immediately began firing a handgun at the men inside, striking Gentry and another man.
During the ensuing chaos, other men in the apartment struggled with Palmer for control of the gun, and Palmer himself was shot. He then fled the scene and was later found at the nearby apartment complex to the east, being one of the two men hospitalized with serious injuries. Following his release from the hospital, a warrant was issued for his arrest. William Palmer was taken into custody without incident and booked into the Pima County Jail on charges of first-degree murder, first-degree burglary, and misconduct involving weapons as a prohibited possessor.
