Cutberto “Cuy” Gastelum, a 35-year-old male of Hispanic / Latino ethnicity, was fatally shot late on November 21, 2016, at the front door of his home in a central Phoenix apartment complex near 12th Street and Indian School Road. According to police and later case summaries, someone came to his door late that night, around 11 p.m. to midnight, and fired multiple rounds, leaving him gravely wounded just inside the doorway.
First responders found him inside the apartment with gunshot wounds and rushed him to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead a short time later.
Family accounts reported by local media describe a quiet evening at home that turned into a sudden attack. His wife told reporters that someone knocked once, then again, at the door; when Gastelum walked up to see who was there, shots were fired through the closed door before he could even open it. In the aftermath, relatives and neighbors placed candles outside, near a door that now showed two bullet holes, marking the spot where he had been struck and collapsed. His wife said she saw no blood at first, only a hole in his back where a bullet had gone through, and that he later died at the hospital despite efforts to save him.
Relatives and friends remembered him as “Cuy,” a nickname used in memorial pages and case write-ups, and as a man known for working with his hands and leading an active life centered on his family. Online coverage notes that he was originally from the Mexican state of Sinaloa, had settled in Phoenix, and was described by his wife as a hard worker who came home to spend time with his family and had no known enemies. In the days after the killing, his family organized fundraising efforts to cover burial expenses, while candles, photos, and messages of remembrance appeared on digital memorials dedicated to victims of gun violence.
Investigators quickly classified the case as a homicide, and Phoenix police homicide detectives were assigned to investigate the shooting. Early reports state that the attacker was someone who came to the door and fired several shots, but they do not include any public description of the shooter or a clear motive. Later summaries on crime-tracking sites continue to present the case without listing it as solved, and they invite the public to provide any information that might help identify the person responsible. Forum posts attributed to Gastelum’s wife years later still appeal for anyone who knows anything about the shooting to come forward, underscoring that, in the publicly available record, no suspect has been named and no arrest has been reported in connection with his death.
