A man jailed in connection with a shootout earlier this month in which he and two deputies were wounded has been linked to a separate shooting days before.
Meanwhile, one of of the two wounded deputies has been released from the hospital.
Jordyn Guadalupe Sanchez, 29, is being held at the Pima County jail’s medical unit for wounds he sustained in the gunfight with deputies.
Sanchez faces 13 felony counts, including two counts of attempted first degree murder, endangerment of a child and discharging a weapon into a residential structure, according to a Pima County Sheriff’s Department news release.
Sanchez is being held without bond and is expected to be in court Friday for a hearing, records show.
The two deputies were shot while answering a domestic violence call about 7:15 p.m. Dec. 21, at a house in the 9000 block of North Kanawha Street, near North Shannon and West Overton roads.
Deputies were called to the home when an “erratic” Sanchez showed up wanting to take his three non-custodial children from the residence, according to a complaint filed in Pima County Justice Court.
Gunfire erupted soon after the deputies made contact with Sanchez at the house, the department has said. A scuffle led to both deputies, and Sanchez being shot.
On Saturday, Deputy Leonardo Wells, one of the wounded deputies, headed home from the hospital, although not on his own two feet.
A white cast covered his left leg from foot to upper thigh.
As he was rolled through a door in a wheelchair and into a hospital lobby filled with familiar faces, the claps rolled like thunder, a video of his release shows.
The clapping continued, all the out the front door, and didn’t end until Wells was safely in a vehicle for the ride home with his family.
The second injured officer has not been publicly identified and remained hospitalized Wednesday.
The shooting was the second allegedly involving Sanchez in the days leading up to the Christmas holiday, deputies said.
During a search of Sanchez’s home following the shootout, deputies found evidence that linked him to a Dec. 16 shooting at a smoke Shop, in the 900 block of East Fort Lowell Road.
In that incident, an employee told deputies that Sanchez seemed fine when he entered the shop, but became upset for an unknown reason, a court complaint says.
Sanchez used a racial slur against someone inside the shop and a shoving match ensued. Someone inside the shop pulled a knife on Sanchez to hold him at bay, but he pulled out a pistol and shot the man in the thigh before running away, the complaint says.
Sanchez admitted to his involvement in the smoke shop incident, and the casings found at the smoke shop matched the casings found at the deputy shooting scene, according to the complaint.
Cruz has prior convictions for burglary, narcotics possession and for possessing a weapon as a felon, according to court records.
