http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/news/local/031306smuggle

Monday, March 13, 2006
Smuggling, quarrel lead to 2 gun deaths here
One victim is an illegal immigrant allegedly backpacking marijuana near rivaca; the other is found shot at a midtown apartment complex.
HEIDI ROWLEY

Tucson Citizen

Detectives are investigating two weekend homicides, one in the county and the other in the city.

The first was committed late Friday when about a dozen illegal immigrants were backpacking marijuana into the country, said Pima County sheriff's Deputy Dawn Barkman.

She said detectives interviewed one of the men, who said they were walking near Arivaca when they heard a voice in the desert say "Stop" and then heard gunfire.

One man was shot, and he and a companion separated from the group and found a road, where they got a ride to Kino Hospital. The man who was shot died at the hospital, Barkman said.

She said the friend did not know where they were when they were fired at and did not know which road they found to get a ride. Barkman said investigators believe the shooting happened between 9 and 9:30 p.m.

The dead man has not been identified. The other smugglers were not found, and Barkman said the Sheriff's Department has not been able to find the scene of the shooting.

Early Saturday, Tucson police responded to a shooting in the 4300 block of East 29th Street.

According to a police news release, Randolfo Navarro-Amavrea, 35, and Oscar Ivan Ruiz-Baca, 26, were involved in an altercation, and Navarro-Amavrea was shot.

Police found Navarro-Amavrea at an apartment complex. He was taken to University Medical Center, where he died.

Ruiz-Baca was found at a motel in the 1400 block of South Craycroft Road, where he was arrested, police said. He has been booked into the Pima County Jail on one count of first-degree murder and is being held on $1 million bail.