2 Arrested In Fatal Tucson Shooting Of Vail Teen David Ruggiero

TUCSON, AZ — Jonathan O. Gallardo, 17, and Jose Manuel Aguirre, 22, were arrested Dec. 16 and Dec. 6 respectively for first-degree murder in the Tucson shooting death of missing Vail youth David Ruggiero, 17. The shooting occurred near 1600 N. Wilmot Road sometime around 5:20 a.m. Nov. 20, when police found a wounded David Ruggiero lying in a parking lot. Tucson Fire and police gave him emergency medical aid, but he still died on scene.

Meanwhile, David Ruggiero’s family reported him missing Nov. 20. His mother Rebecca Ruggiero’s Facebook post the evening of Nov. 20 asked anyone with information on her son’s whereabouts to contact her. Her post recounted how David Ruggiero had left the family’s house around 1:30 a.m. that day, and that he had contacted his brother around 4 a.m. and told him that he was going to visit a girl not far from home. He expected to return home in an hour, he said.

However, the family’s search for their missing son came to an end two days later when Tucson police identified the Nov. 20 Wilmot Road shooting victim as David Ruggiero on Nov. 22.

Shortly afterward, David’s aunt Amanda Weinmeister posted a GoFundMe campaign to help the family cover funeral expenses and the cost of transporting David Ruggiero's body back to Phoenix, as the family had only recently moved to Vail. “We would love to bring David back to the place he grew up and loved so much,” she wrote. “We want to give David the memorial service he deserves to honor his memory and say our last goodbyes.” The campaign was successful, raising slightly more than its goal of $25,000, enabling the family to hold his funeral and burial in the Phoenix area, a GoFundMe update reported.

Meanwhile, Tucson police said the two homicide suspects Gallardo and Aguirre are also suspects in connection with an unrelated shooting a few hours after David Ruggiero’s death. The second shooting occurred again in a parking lot, this time at 2470 N. Campbell Ave., where a man was shot after a fight broke out. That victim was taken with serious but not life-threatening injuries to Banner University Medical Center.

Aguirre and Gallardo are both locked up in the Pima County Jail. In addition to the first-degree murder charge they face in David Ruggiero's homicide, they also stand accused of aggravated robbery, armed robbery, weapons offenses and kidnapping, Tucson police reported.

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