On Monday morning, an attempted carjacking in Tucson, Arizona turned fatal when Julio Cesar Aguirre, a 42-year-old Mexican national, allegedly shot and killed a male driver while trying to hijack the victim's Toyota Tundra, according to a criminal complaint released by the U.S. Attorney's Office. After Tucson Police Department officers responded to the scene, witnesses directed them to a possible burglary at a nearby residence, where Aguirre supposedly threatened the occupants with a gun, demanding their vehicle before fleeing. The officers later discovered Aguirre hiding in a storage shed in possession of a Smith & Wesson 9mm caliber pistol.
The confrontation and Aguirre's subsequent arrest marked another chapter in his history of immigration-relating offenses, with over 10 arrests from 2007 to 2013, and a removal from the United States under a court order in 2013, the U.S. Attorney’s Office detailed the events leading to his current charges which include Attempted Carjacking, Use and Discharge of a Firearm During and In Relation to a Crime of Violence, and Alien in Possession of a Firearm, Aguirre appeared in federal court in Tucson on July 2 for his initial hearing.
Federal prosecution of Aguirre falls under Operation Take Back America, a Department of Justice initiative aimed at curbing illegal immigration and disbanding cartels and transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), as well as aiding in the apprehension of those committing violent crimes. This operation aligns the efforts of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETFs) and Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), as described in the Justice Department's statement.
The investigation into this case is jointly conducted by the Tucson Police Department and the FBI Phoenix Division's Tucson office, while the prosecution of federal charges is managed by the United States Attorney’s Office, District of Arizona, Tucson—all defendants including Aguirre are presumed innocent unless proven guilty in a court of law, a concurrent investigation by the TPD and the Pima County Attorney’s Office into additional felony state charges, including homicide, is underway as well.
