August 28, 2022 – In Breaking News – Tucson .com
On Ryane Martinez-Garibay’s 22nd birthday, she started work at her retail job and texted her mom about having lunch the next day. The two would celebrate by getting Indian food, their favorite, and Ryane would show her mom her newly decorated apartment.
Instead, Ryane received a phone call from a family friend that a constable had been shot at a nearby apartment complex.
She went on a frantic search to locate her mom, Constable Deborah Martinez-Garibay, who had just texted her to arrange birthday plans a few hours before.
Deborah was not at her home, and none of the nearby hospitals had reported receiving her.
Ryane eventually got another call, this time from an unknown man’s voice: “He said, your mom, she was shot, and she didn’t make it,” Ryane recalled.
(Authorities say Pima County Constable Deborah Martinez, who was serving an eviction notice to a tenant, and the suspect are among the four people who were killed after a shooting at an apartment in Tucson, Arizona. KVOA reports.
Deborah was one of three killed Thursday at Lind Commons Apartments after a man being evicted shot her, apartment manager Angela Fox-Heath and neighbor Elijah Miranda before turning the gun on himself.
Gavin Lee Stansell, the 24-year-old shooter, was facing eviction from the apartment for threatening a neighbor with a gun “and has otherwise disturbed the peace,” according to court records.
But Deborah’s family questions whether she knew of the true danger she faced, and why there was a lack of safety afforded to her and other victims.
The family says a detective working on the case alerted them that Stansell’s mother had called for a wellness check on him the morning before the shooting due to the concerning behavior he displayed.
(The family of Deborah Martinez-Garibay, the 43-year-old Pima County constable killed in a shooting Aug. 25, shared memories of her Sunday morning. Deborah was one of three killed at Lind Commons Apartments after a man being evicted shot her, apartment manager Angela Fox-Heath and 25-year-old Elijah Miranda before turning the gun on himself. Courtesy of the Arizona Daily Star by Jesse Tellez, and YouTube. Posted on Aug 29, 2022.)
TPD could not confirm if a wellness check was called in Thursday morning, but Sgt. Richard Gradillas, a department spokesman, said he was not aware of one based on the criminal briefing of the shooting.
“As far as we know, that was not communicated to Deborah. And so she went into this situation blind,” said Joanna Caballero, one of Deborah’s three sisters.
Continue reading… Constable’s family mourns loss, awaits answers about deadly eviction
Editor’s note:
Our thoughts and prayers are with the family of Pima County Constable Deborah Martinez-Garibay, both blood, and blue. Thank you for your bravery and commitment to serving the citizens of America in the United States Army, then as a Constable in Arizona with pride and distinction.
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