We used to call them “misdemeanor murders.”
It's a harsh and cynical phrase that entered newsroom lingo decades ago but has disappeared more recently.
It referred to killings of people who were themselves engaged in crime or wrongdoing. "Misdemeanor murder" meant it was a minor killing, not worth worrying about too much.
A more delicate phrase used these days is “lifestyle murder.” Similarly, that means it was the victim’s lifestyle that made them vulnerable to violence. Maybe the victim was doing home invasions, or dealing illegal drugs or joining in gang fights. The idea is it's not so surprising they ended up killed, or so worrisome to the general public.
These are the violent crimes that the law-abiding public can choose to ignore, if they or their loved ones aren’t involved in the rough life. And they make up a large portion of the 56 killings that have happened in the city of Tucson during 2025 — a low total in a period of high fear.
What shakes people to our cores, though, is when the killings or violence happen in situations any of us could find ourselves in. Biking on the Huckelberry Loop, for example. Or driving down a busy road. Or working at Goodwill.
The shooting of Juan Cristobal Flores and a coworker Friday was one of those outbursts of violence that we simply cannot explain away. The two of them were working at a Goodwill donation center outside city limits on the southeast side Friday morning when a man shot them and fled.
Juan Cristobal Flores
When I heard of the shooting, my mind settled on the idea that maybe a love triangle had been the cause. But that crutch quickly collapsed. It was not a targeted attack due to their own behavior — quite the opposite.
As Sgt. David Stivers of the Pima County Sheriff’s Department put it Monday, “There's a lot more to learn, but the violent act itself does not appear to be targeted or any reason behind it that we know of so far.”
Early Tuesday morning Adrian William Orozco, 40, was arrested on an assortment of charges related to the shooting.
So this shooting attack was the opposite of a lifestyle crime, as far as we can tell. It was an attack on people doing humble jobs, accepting donations to Goodwill on the day after Christmas, at a time when many people were still in bed or enjoying a day off.
I had indirect connections to Flores, through a young friend who graduated from the U of A's opera program, where Flores is a student, and from the park where he has played pickup soccer. Everyone who knows him is in shock that he was victimized like this.
Flores was gravely injured, and as of this writing, remained in dire condition at St. Joseph's Hospital, where family members held a press conference Monday. The other victim, who has not been publicly named, is also in serious condition after being shot.
Angelica Atondo, Flores' cousin, lashed out at city of Tucson officials during the press conference.
"Violence is no longer something that people read about, something that people know about. It's something that families are living in real time. What happened to Juan was not an accident. It was not unforeseeable," she said.
She asked city officials, including Mayor Regina Romero, to "please do something."
The Pima County Sheriff's Department has released additional photos of a man who is a person of interest in a shooting Friday that left two workers at a Goodwill donation center in critical condition.
Of course, what happened to her cousin did not happen in the city of Tucson. Strictly speaking, there's nothing city officials could do about it — that's Pima County's responsibility.
But more broadly, what happens in the city, where most of the metro area's population lives, does reverberate. And the broad public perception in Tucson is that there is too much crime, too much violence.
As Atondo put it: "To the authorities of Tucson, to the city of Tucson, to Mayor Romero, please, please do something. Thoughts and prayers are not enough and will never be enough once you are in these shoes."
Ironically, her comments came near the end of a year in which Tucson appears to be experiencing another decrease in the number of homicides. As of Monday, the city of Tucson had recorded 56 homicides. That's down from 65 in 2024. And it's a huge drop from the record 93 homicides in 2021. Pima County has recorded five homicides in 2025.
Still, the perception remains that we are a violent town. To me, it's not an inaccurate perception, despite the decrease in killings. The day after Flores and his coworker were shot at work, two people were killed in Tucson at Willie Blake Park.
Police aren't certain of the circumstances of that double homicide, but they said the two victims went to the park to meet with others and ended up being shot. They were just 20 and 17 years old.
The truth is, there never really was such a thing as a misdemeanor murder. Those victims still count, for their own value as humans, but also because their killings make everyone feeling less secure, even if they're not as shocking as an inexplicable workplace attack at a donation center.
