The Pima County Sheriff's office released the following public bulletin today, identifying the second victim, 40-year-old Juan Baltazar López of Guatemala, of an April 8 double homicide near the US-Mexico border. López and 39-year-old Gerardo Pérez-Ruiz of Mexico were killed by "an unknown number of subjects in camouflage clothing armed with rifles."
On April 8, 2012, at approximately 10:35 p.m., agents from the Casa Grande Border Patrol Station, Eloy Police Department, and Coolidge Police Department responded to the Eagle Ranch located at the south end of South Night Sky Street, south of West Antares Drive, in Eloy, Arizona. The response was in reference to shots being fired at an illegal alien smuggling load.
Upon arrival, the law enforcement agencies found one deceased person in the bed of a pickup truck and a second deceased subject in a wash northeast of the pickup truck. Several border crossers were located hiding in the brush nearby. It was determined that the incident had occurred in the Pima County Sheriff’s Department’s jurisdiction.
Homicide detectives discovered that approximately 20-30 border crossers were traveling in a pickup truck in a wash that is commonly used for human smuggling. They were ambushed by an unknown number of subjects in camouflage clothing armed with rifles. Shots were fired at the pickup truck at which time two adult males were fatally struck.
One of the victims is identified as Gerardo Perez-Ruiz (DOB 11/02/72). Mr. Perez-Ruiz was a Mexican National from San Jose Del Rincon in Toluca, Mexico. The second victim is identified as Juan Baltazar Lopez (DOB 11/30/71). Mr. Baltazar Lopez was from Guatemala.
The investigation continues.
