In the quiet expanse of Avra Valley, near Picture Rocks, Arizona, a life of service was cut tragically short. Ernest Calvillo, a 37-year-old male, was a deputy with the Pima County Sheriff's Department. On the night of July 20, 1983, he was working an off-duty security detail outside the Wagon Wheel Post Bar. Alongside his colleague, Sergeant Craig Newburn, Deputy Calvillo was tasked with guarding movie equipment.
The evening took a dark turn when a fight broke out inside the bar, spilling out into the parking lot.
A patron who had been involved in the altercation, John Rierson, was asked to leave the premises by the deputies. A short time later, he returned, still agitated. As Deputy Calvillo and Sergeant Newburn were attempting to de-escalate the situation with John Rierson, his brother, Curtis Rierson, suddenly drove up to the scene. Without warning, Curtis fired a. 44 caliber handgun, striking Deputy Calvillo. The shot proved to be fatal.
In the immediate aftermath of the shooting, Sergeant Newburn returned fire, killing Curtis Rierson at the scene. Amid the chaos, Sergeant Newburn was also able to subdue and arrest John Rierson. Deputy Calvillo, a United States Air Force veteran who had served with the sheriff's department for nearly ten and a half years, was rushed to the University Emergency Center in Tucson. Despite the efforts of medical personnel, he succumbed to his injuries a few hours later, on July 21, 1983. He was survived by his wife and two daughters.
