On the morning of Friday, September 1, 2017, a visit to relatives at the Desert Palms Apartments near Mesa Drive and Brown Road in Mesa, Arizona, ended in violence for 37-year-old Shane Gilliam. Around 3:30 a.m., Miguel Armando Espinoza Castro, 26, accompanied by two or three other men, forced his way into an apartment where four of the six adult residents were present; Gilliam was a visitor and not a resident. Castro allegedly entered to collect a debt; police reports say the girlfriend of Shane’s cousin was said to owe $1,000 for pills, while Castro later claimed the amount related to a $300 television sale.

Castro reportedly produced a handgun and Gilliam confronted him; Gilliam was shot and found by Mesa police with a gunshot wound. He was transported to a local hospital in serious condition and later died of his injuries. The following morning Mesa police arrested Miguel Armando Espinoza Castro and charged him with first-degree murder and first-degree burglary in connection with the home invasion and fatal shooting.

If anyone witnessed the early-morning events at Desert Palms Apartments or has information about the confrontation, please share what is known.