A man who shot and seriously wounded a longtime Marana businessman was convicted last week of attempted murder and numerous other charges.
Ruben Duran Muñoz had been upset with his employer, John Kai Jr., and shot him several times during a meeting at Kai's office in Marana in 2016.
Last week, a jury in Pima County Superior Court convicted Muñoz of attempted first degree murder, one count of attempted manslaughter, two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, one count of aggravated assault causing a serious injury and one count of burglary in the first degree. Sentencing is scheduled for March 26.
Kai told the Star in 2016 that Muñoz was a former employee who worked mostly on Kai’s cotton operations in Marana. Muñoz worked for Kai family businesses for more than 25 years. The Kai family is considered one of the founding families of Marana and has dealings in agriculture, real estate, construction and other interests.
On May 4, 2016, Muñoz showed up at Kai’s office, wanting to talk to his former boss. According to court documents, after Muñoz retired he “subsisted on disability since 2013,” and he was not happy about the severance package he received from Kai. Muñoz told Kai’s office manager that he wanted to talk to Kai and asked her to translate for him.
During the meeting at Kai Enterprises, near Interstate 10 and North Cortaro Road, Muñoz got angry and pulled a gun and shoved Kai's office manager to the floor and shot Kai in the chest and arm and then in the head, according to previous reports and the Pima County Attorney's Office.
Kai suffered a serious injury to his mouth and lost an eye in the shooting and told the Star in an interview that he faced a long period of healing and rehabilitation. Muñoz fled the shooting scene, but surrendered to police about three weeks later.
