Tim Steller’s opinion: Killing of DEA agent highlights Tucson’s staggering homicide toll | Subscriber

[ad_1]

These drains include police quitting their jobs in big cities like Tucson, police officers withdrawing from previous patrols in distress and discouragement, and the public simply becoming more violent after a summer of protests and unrest.

While the US Attorney General and DEA administrator were in town this week to respond to Garbo’s assassination, people across town reacted in their own less visible ways to the loss of loved ones.

I spoke to two mothers of victims of what could be described as “domestic violence”. But they weren’t the usual type: both were men in their thirties; each was killed by a younger man.

Armando Padilla’s mother, Leslie Madrid, told me that Padilla was rushing to a smokehouse on South 12th Avenue where his sister and boyfriend were molesting Armando’s father, not the first time. It was the afternoon of April 30th.

Padilla, 37, was followed and hit by the driver of a Chevrolet Tahoe. Friend Fernando Borquez is accused of deliberately running over Padilla and is charged with first degree murder.

Anthony Watkins’ mother, Mary Gastelum, told me that her son had an argument with his friend’s son. The boy, 16-year-old Lashaun Jayvion White, is accused of opening fire and killing 35-year-old Watkins. Now he is being charged with second degree murder.

[ad_2]