On the evening of October 21, 2017, Roy M. Uriarte, a 46-year-old Hispanic / Latino man, was fatally shot in the small town of Guadalupe, Arizona. He was found lying in the street with a gunshot wound near the intersection of Calle Bien and Calle Batua after Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office deputies responded to reports of shots fired around 7 p.m. Despite efforts to treat him on the scene, he died shortly afterward where he was discovered.
Guadalupe itself is a compact, largely residential community tucked between Phoenix and Tempe, known for its strong Pascua Yaqui and Mexican roots and close-knit atmosphere. In a town where many residents know one another, a killing in the middle of a neighborhood street sent a shockwave through family, friends, and the broader community. Public tributes posted online describe Roy as someone with a big sense of humor who loved to make people laugh, took pride in cooking for his relatives, and was deeply devoted to his nieces and nephews and siblings, suggesting he was an important part of daily family life before his death.
According to contemporaneous news reports, deputies did not immediately release the victim’s name, but they did confirm that the man they found in the roadway had been shot and that he died at the scene. At that time, investigators stated that the case was an active homicide investigation, that they were still working to determine what led up to the shooting, and that no suspect had been arrested.
Subsequent public records and case summaries that list Roy by name and document his death as the result of gun violence in Guadalupe do not report any later arrest or identification of a suspect. As of the most recent online updates, there is no indication that law enforcement has announced charges, named a perpetrator, or publicly described a motive. In other words, while the investigation was opened as a homicide and remains recorded as a death by force, there is no publicly available evidence that anyone has been arrested or held accountable for Roy M. Uriarte’s killing, leaving his family and community without closure.
