In the early morning hours of Friday, September 1, 2017, a visit to family in Mesa, Arizona, turned fatal for 37-year-old Shane Gilliam. He was at the Desert Palms Apartments, near Mesa Drive and Brown Road, when a violent confrontation abruptly ended his life. Four of the six adults who resided in the apartment were present when the tragic events unfolded. Gilliam, who was not a resident of the apartment, was visiting his relatives at the time.
The incident began around 3:30 a.m.
when Miguel Armando Espinoza Castro, 26, accompanied by two or three other men, forced his way into the apartment after the door was opened. Castro was reportedly there to collect on a debt. According to police investigations, the girlfriend of Shane's cousin allegedly owed Castro $1,000 for pills and had received threatening messages from him prior to the incident. Castro, however, later claimed the debt was for a television he had sold and was only for $300.
Upon entering the apartment, Castro brandished a handgun. Shane Gilliam confronted the armed intruder and was shot in the process. When Mesa police officers arrived at the scene, they found Gilliam with a gunshot wound. He was rushed to a local hospital in serious condition but later succumbed to his injuries and died.
The day after the fatal shooting, on Saturday morning, Mesa police arrested Miguel Armando Espinoza Castro. He was identified as the shooter and taken into custody. Castro faced charges of first-degree murder and first-degree burglary for his role in the home invasion that resulted in the death of Shane Gilliam.
