In the early hours of September 18, 2017, Mathew Arballo, a 31-year-old Hispanic/Latino man from Phoenix, was dropped off at the Phoenix VA hospital with critical gunshot wounds after being attacked near 24th Avenue and McDowell Road. He had been in a vehicle when he was shot, and people who were with him rushed him to the VA facility at 7th Street and Indian School Road in a desperate attempt to save his life.
From there, he was transferred to another hospital for further treatment, but his injuries were too severe and he later died.
Investigators quickly traced the violence back to a confrontation that had unfolded shortly before the shooting outside a business near 24th Avenue and McDowell. Witness accounts described an argument between Arballo and another man that stemmed from a personal dispute: both were reportedly involved in a relationship with the same woman, and tensions over that situation escalated into a physical altercation. Security personnel at the business intervened, broke up the fight, and ordered the men to leave the property. According to those witnesses, the argument did not end there; instead, the two agreed to meet down the street to “settle their differences,” setting the stage for the ambush that followed.
After the pair left the business, the suspect allegedly circled back in a vehicle while Arballo was sitting in a car nearby. At that point, shots were fired from the suspect’s vehicle, striking Arballo as he sat inside. The shooter then sped away from the scene, leaving bystanders and companions scrambling to get the wounded man to the hospital. Police initially informed the public that the gunman had fled and had not yet been located, asking anyone with information to come forward through a tip line.
As detectives pieced together the events of that night, they relied heavily on witness statements and the sequence of the confrontation outside the business. Investigators eventually identified 30-year-old Carlos Armando Duran as the suspected shooter. Acting on that identification, officers went to a residence near 51st Avenue and Baseline Road, where they arrested Duran. Authorities reported that he was taken into custody on allegations that he had driven by and opened fire on Arballo after their earlier dispute, turning a volatile personal conflict into a deadly drive-by shooting.
Following the arrest, Duran was booked on charges including first-degree murder and drive-by shooting, and a bond of $500,000 was set in the case. Case-tracking records list the homicide as a solved “death by force,” with later updates confirming the arrest and linking it back to the 2017 shooting near 24th Avenue and McDowell. Those same records note that Arballo’s body was found on September 18, 2017, in Phoenix, reflecting the timeline in which the confrontation, shooting, emergency transport to the VA hospital, and his eventual death all unfolded within a narrow window.
