Edsel Cecena-Marquez, 19, was shot and killed after a confrontation in the parking lot of an apartment complex on South Park Avenue in Tucson during the late hours of February 21, 2021. A physical altercation with several others escalated into an exchange of gunfire; Cecena-Marquez was struck and died at the scene. Tucson Police Homicide Detectives interviewed witnesses, including the other person who had exchanged fire with Cecena-Marquez. The Pima County Attorney’s Office reviewed the investigation and declined to file charges related to his death.

Evidence from Cecena-Marquez’s death produced trace DNA that was later compared to material from the September 2019 murder of 15-year-old Erik Isaac Nañez. That comparison led detectives to identify Cecena-Marquez as the suspect in Nañez’s killing, and Nañez’s family was notified as the investigation into that 2019 homicide was closed with that identification.

Are there readers who remember the February 21, 2021 incident or who have information about either case?