Suspect in Tucson police recruit killing fatally shot boyhood friend at 12

The arrest of Santiago Jorge Rogers in the fatal shooting of Tucson police recruit Carlos Ramirez has drawn renewed attention to a long and troubled criminal history that began with a tragedy in Tucson more than two decades ago. Rogers was one of three men investigators connected to the death of Ramirez, who was killed inside his home southwest of Tucson while defending against what authorities described as an apparent home invasion. Ramirez’s pregnant fiancée, a corrections officer, was also shot in the shoulder, and the couple’s child was inside the residence.

Rogers was arrested Aug. 22, three days after Ramirez was killed, according to the Pima County Sheriff’s Department. Ramirez, a former corrections officer, was close to finishing the academy to become a Tucson police officer. Authorities have not publicly identified a motive, but a Pima County Justice Court complaint described the shooting as appearing random. Rogers and Alex Barnett, another suspect, are being held in the Pima County jail without bond on multiple charges.

The case involving Rogers has brought back the 2001 death of his boyhood friend, Albert Lopez Jr. At the time, both boys were 12. According to Tucson Citizen archives, the two had found a .25-caliber handgun on June 1, 2001, at James Thomas Park, a small neighborhood park near South Country Club Road and East 36th Street. Later that day, Rogers fired the gun in the side yard of Lopez’s home in the 400 block of West Columbia Street, near South 12th Avenue and West Ajo Way. The bullet struck Lopez in the chest, and he died soon after being taken to a local hospital.

Rogers had been living with the Lopez family for nearly two years when the shooting occurred. Lopez’s father told a reporter at the time that the family forgave Rogers, while also describing the loss as devastating. He said it felt like losing two children in one night and expressed a wish that he could take Rogers home, though he understood that he could not. The circumstances left both families dealing with the consequences of a child’s access to a loaded firearm and a death that authorities treated as a juvenile offense.

In July 2001, Rogers was sentenced in Pima County Juvenile Court after being found responsible for negligent homicide and possession of a firearm. The sentence called for 18 months of intensive probation. That supervision did not mark the end of his involvement with the criminal justice system. An interim complaint says Rogers was arrested Dec. 27, 2005, on suspicion of possessing drugs and drug paraphernalia. After initially attempting to conceal the substance, he told police it was crack cocaine, according to the complaint.

Rogers was arrested again Dec. 2, 2006, while on probation for the drug possession case. The new allegation involved prohibited possession of a firearm. He was sentenced the following year to 4.5 years in prison. Arizona Department of Corrections records show that he later cycled in and out of prison on cases from other Arizona counties, including drug violations, promoting prison contraband and shoplifting.

The current investigation centers on the death of Ramirez at a home southwest of Tucson. The recruit was days from completing his police training when he was shot. His fiancée, who works as a corrections officer, was wounded in the shoulder during the encounter. Their child was also present, adding to the concern surrounding a violent incident inside an occupied home. The sheriff’s department has said investigators connected Rogers and Barnett to the fatal shooting, while a third man sought in the case was located over the weekend but was not arrested.

Barnett surrendered Monday after a five-day search and a three-hour standoff, authorities said. His surrender followed Rogers’ arrest and ended the active manhunt for the second named suspect. Both men remain jailed without bond as the case proceeds. The sheriff’s department has not released a motive, and the available court filing does not establish why the residence was targeted or what role each suspect allegedly played. For Tucson residents, the case now links a deadly incident involving a future police officer to an earlier neighborhood tragedy, while leaving investigators and prosecutors to determine how the suspects’ pasts relate to the events that killed Ramirez.