The teenage driver of a white car seen nearby when a University of Arizona alumunus was shot to death walking in his neighborhood is now facing a first-degree murder charge, Tucson police said.
Maurice Diaz-Casales, 18, was charged May 11 as a suspect the death of 30-year-old David Scott Anderson, the Tucson Police Department said.
TPD said forensic evidence led them to make the arrest. The investigation is ongoing and anyone with information is asked to call 911 or call 88-CRIME to make an anonymous report.
Diaz-Casales was already behind bars when homicide detectives visited him at the Pima County jail to let him know he was being charged in Anderson’s death.
He has been in custody since May 6 on suspicion of felony flight from law enforcement for allegedly leading officers on a street chase through a neighborhood when they tried to pull over his white Acura sedan on East Speedway five days after the killing.
Three juvenile passengers in the car had “outstanding warrants and narcotics offenses,” and were booked into the Pima County Juvenile Court Detention Center, TPD said. The juveniles have not been charged in connection with the shooting.
Anderson
Anderson, a former Sahuaro High School teacher who held two UA degrees and was studying for a third, was shot in the heart around 5 p.m. Saturday, May 1, while taking a fitness walk around his midtown neighborhood near North Fremont Avenue and East Waverly Street.
Anderson, a native of Santa Rosa, California, started walking for exercise when his gym closed during the pandemic, his family said.
