Police frustrated by witnesses' silence in Park Union shooting

The shooting occurred outside the Park Union, 615 N. Park Ave., about 2:44 a.m., while a party sponsored by the National Society of Black Engineers was taking place inside.

"I can assure you that several people at that party know the principal people involved," said Detective Sgt. Sal Celi of the University of Arizona Police Department. "But no one has come forward."

Although police recovered a semi-automatic handgun at the scene, it is probably not the weapon that fired the shots, Celi said. A man dropped the gun after an off-duty Pima Community College Department of Public Safety officer working at the party heard the shots, ran outside, and told him to drop the weapon. Celi added the recovered gun had a full clip and a bullet in the chamber.

Witness statements and the locations of bullet casings at the scene indicate that a second weapon may have been involved, he said.

If forensic tests confirm that a different gun fired the shots, there is little evidence to connect someone to the shooting, Celi said. The tests will take another six to eight weeks to complete, UAPD Detective Cpl. Larry Forchione said.

Police do not have much information about the second suspect. He is described only as a black man of average height who was wearing either a white T-shirt or white collared shirt, Forchione said.

The only complete description and composite drawing police have are of the man who dropped the gun after the incident. That man is still wanted by police. He is a 19- to 20-year-old black male of medium height and weight. His hair was wet-looking and wavy, about 11/2 inches long and short on the sides, and he was wearing black pants and a San Francisco 49ers jacket when the shots were fired.

"We're not going to solve this one easily," Celi said. "We need someone to tell us what they know."

He said he thinks people at the party have not come forward because they do not think the incident is "anyone else's business."

Forchione said he has tried repeatedly to reach officials from the National Society of Black Engineers, but they have refused to return his calls.

Representatives from the society could not be reached for comment.

A check of the gun's serial number has pointed police to a local gun shop where the weapon was purchased, Celi said. Further investigation has also led detectives to the handgun's owner, and detectives are now looking for that person, he said.

"We're at that point right now," Celi said. "But it could have been sold, it could have been stolen, the owner could have lent it to someone. We're investigating that."

Celi said he is concerned because, without the public's help, violent incidents are going to get "closer to home."

A 20-year-old Tucson man was shot Jan. 19 and later died near The Rock nightclub, 136 N. Park Ave., just one-half mile south of campus, and Feb. 5, 1996, a Tucson man was shot in the head and seriously wounded during an apparent robbery attempt while he was sitting in a pick up truck at East First Street and North Park Avenue, just across the street from Manzanita-Mohave Residence Hall but technically off campus.

"We have a problem that there is no fence between the city of Tucson and the University of Arizona," Forchione said. "It's always an intermingling problem. We tend to get a little bit of bleed-over."

To Forchione's recollection, no shots had ever been fired on the UA campus until the Park Union incident. However, there were 10 reports of weapons violations in 1995 and 1996 and five such violations in 1994, according to UAPD statistics.

Celi said police will probably seek felony endangerment charges against the shooter if he is found.