On a Thursday night in April 2018 in El Mirage, Arizona, 17-year-old Raymond Vargas was driving with four other teenagers when their vehicle was sprayed with gunfire. Raymond was struck in the chest; another passenger suffered a non-life-threatening leg wound. After being shot, the car Raymond was driving crashed into a garage and another vehicle. First responders found Raymond on the ground near 129th Avenue and Dahlia Drive; a neighbor had performed life-saving measures before paramedics transported him and the other injured passenger to a nearby hospital. Raymond was pronounced dead at the hospital.

El Mirage police reported witnesses saw multiple suspects flee the scene. Two days after the shooting, a 15-year-old male was arrested on a homicide charge; his name was not released. Authorities continued to search for other possible suspects, and the motive remained unclear. Raymond was a Valley Vista High School student; his mother, Karen Vargas, said he was a happy young man who enjoyed family and friends and had lost his father three years earlier. A GoFundMe was created to assist with funeral expenses.

If anyone has information about the shooting or the people who fled that night, please share what is known with investigators.