2 teenagers arrested in Arizona shooting last weekend that killed 2 people, injured 5 others
By Andi Babineau and Emma Tucker, CNN
(CNN) — Two teenagers have been arrested in connection with a shooting at a house party in southwestern Arizona last weekend that left two people dead and five teenagers injured, police said.
Officers responded shortly before 11 p.m. local time Saturday night to a private residence in Yuma and found several gunshot victims, who were all male, the Yuma Police Department said in a statement posted on Facebook. More than 30 rounds were fired at the party, police said.
Detectives served a search warrant at a home Monday evening, and additional evidence uncovered in the investigation led to the arrest of 18-year-old Jose Lopez and 19-year-old Aden Arviso, police said.
Lopez is facing two counts of first-degree murder and one count of disorderly conduct with a weapon, while Arviso is facing charges of false reporting and disorderly conduct with a weapon, according to police.
It’s not yet clear whether Lopez and Arviso have attorneys.
The two victims were identified by police as Ande Blackthunder, 20, and Danny Garcia, 19. They were both transported to the Yuma Regional Medical Center, where they were pronounced dead, police said.
A 16-year-old who was first transported to the Yuma hospital was later flown to a Phoenix-area hospital with life-threatening injuries, police said. The injuries of the remaining gunshot victims – aged 15, 16, 18 and 19 – were not life-threatening, authorities said.
Several off-duty officers who happened to be in the area also responded to the shooting, police said.
The shooting marked the 33rd mass shooting of May 2023, and is one of 226 mass shootings in the US so far this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive. CNN and the GVA define a mass shooting as one in which four or more people were either injured or killed, excluding the shooter.
“Our detectives have been working tirelessly since the shooting,” Yuma police said in the statement. “At this time, the investigators are trying to determine a motive. However, this does not appear to be a random act. We have investigative leads that our detectives are looking into.”
The party was held at a private residence and the attendees knew each other, but the homeowners were not present at the time, police said, adding the owners had cooperated with the investigation.
“Several weapons were recovered at the scene and are awaiting forensics testing,” Yuma Police Sgt. Lori Franklin said in the statement.
CNN has reached out to the Yuma Police Department for additional information.
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CNN’s Paradise Afshar and Ashley R. Williams contributed to this report.
