On August 2, 2015, in Mesa, Arizona, Gaspar Gomez Colmenero, a 23-year-old male of Hispanic / Latino ethnicity, died in an incident that online case summaries describe as gun violence. Publicly accessible victim databases record his death as occurring in Mesa on that date and group his case among firearm-related homicides in the city, identifying him by full name and listing his basic demographic information and the manner of death.
Despite those entries, the circumstances of what happened to him are notably sparse in open sources. One detailed case profile explicitly states that the circumstances surrounding his death are not described in available online records and that an official cause of death has not been publicly released. It summarizes only that his life was taken by force, without indicating whether the shooting occurred in a residence, on a street, or in another setting, and it offers no account of any prior dispute, confrontation, or other events that might have led to the gunfire. As a result, there is no publicly accessible narrative of the incident itself—no description of the scene, of other people present, or of how quickly emergency responders arrived.
More information is available about how his family and community marked his passing than about the crime. Obituary and funeral notices list his dates of birth and death and explain that an all-night vigil was held at his family’s home on Thursday, August 20, 2015, beginning at 6:00 p.m., giving relatives and friends a space to gather, mourn, and keep watch in his memory. The next morning, on Friday, August 21, a funeral Mass was scheduled for 11:00 a.m. at Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Church on West Washington Street in Phoenix, followed by burial at Greenwood Memory Lawn Cemetery on West Van Buren Street. Those notices invite mourners to leave online condolence messages, and case-summary sites refer back to these funeral arrangements when describing the aftermath of his death, underscoring how central these rituals were for those closest to him.
Regarding possible suspects or arrests, publicly available information is limited and inconclusive. An online memorial entry links to a now-unavailable local news story whose headline reads “1 dead, 1 in custody in Mesa shooting,” suggesting that someone was initially detained in connection with the incident, but the underlying article can no longer be viewed, so it is unclear who that person was, why they were taken into custody, or what, if anything, happened afterward in the courts. The same memorial entry and multiple case-tracking databases link the headline to Gaspar’s death and also reference a national gun-violence database, yet none of the summary pages that remain accessible name a suspect, describe any specific charges, or report that the case has been resolved. One database explicitly lists the case status field as “solved: No,” and invites the public to share any updates, reinforcing the impression that there has been no publicly documented arrest or identified suspect tied to the killing in sources that can be accessed online. At the same time, these profiles host virtual candles and tributes that allow friends, relatives, and community members to continue honoring him even as the circumstances of his death remain largely undocumented and, at least in public records, unsolved.
