In the early morning hours of October 28, 2017, a house party in Tucson, Arizona, turned deadly, leaving 25-year-old Peter Ortiz with fatal injuries. The gathering, held in the 1600 block of North Highland Avenue, was disrupted at approximately 1:00 a.m. when four uninvited men attempted to enter the residence. When they were denied entry, an argument broke out in front of the house.
The confrontation quickly escalated as the uninvited subjects reportedly fired several gunshots into the
air before turning their weapons on the partygoers. In the chaos that ensued, Ortiz and another man were struck by the gunfire. The four assailants, described by witnesses as possibly Hispanic and affiliated with a gang, immediately fled the scene.
Emergency services were called to the scene, and both victims were transported to a local hospital with life-threatening injuries. Despite medical efforts, Peter Ortiz succumbed to his gunshot wounds several hours later. The second victim was eventually stabilized and his injuries were deemed non-life-threatening.
Following an investigation, the Tucson Police Department identified a suspect in the shooting. On November 3, 2017, with the assistance of the U.S. Marshals Task Force, officers located and arrested 20-year-old Bernard Deshon Rayford. He was taken into custody without incident at a residence on Tucson's South Side and was subsequently booked into the Pima County Jail on a felony arrest warrant for one count of First Degree Murder and one count of Aggravated Assault with a Deadly Weapon.
