A 15-year-old boy who fired a single shot that killed a man riding a scooter during a road-rage confrontation near downtown Phoenix has been sentenced to 14 years in prison. Henry Gonzales pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the death of 45-year-old Porfirio Medina, who was shot in the chest near 7th Street and Buckeye Road in August 2025.
According to the ABC15 Arizona, the confrontation began when Medina, riding a scooter, got into a dispute with the occupants of a vehicle and followed it to the next intersection. Medina approached the passenger side of the vehicle while it was stopped at a red light shortly before 11 p.m., and Gonzales fired a single shot from the passenger seat, striking him in the chest. The vehicle's occupants fled the scene without calling 911 or reporting the shooting, the outlet reported. Medina was found at the scene with at least one gunshot wound and was taken to a hospital, where he later died.
Digital Trail Led Investigators to a Teenager
Police did not have an immediate suspect after the shooting, but the station's report notes that investigators pieced together the case using license plate readers, video surveillance, and cell phone location data, all of which helped identify the vehicle involved. That evidence eventually led detectives to Gonzales as the shooter, according to the same account. He was 15 years old at the time of the shooting.
During police interviews following his arrest, Gonzales admitted he had illegally obtained the handgun several days before the encounter despite knowing minors cannot legally possess firearms, according to the Maricopa County Attorney's Office. He also admitted selling the gun after the shooting because he feared he would use it again in another confrontation, the office said.
Why an Adult Court Handled a Teen's Case
Gonzales was ultimately sentenced to 14 years in prison, a term that falls within a strict statutory range. Manslaughter committed with a firearm is classified under Arizona law as a Class 2 Dangerous Felony, which carries a mandatory prison sentence of 7 to 21 years for a first-time offender, with a presumptive term of 10.5 years, and legally prohibits probation, per the law firm Feldman Royle Ahl.
The case was handled in adult court because of a state statute allowing county prosecutors to bypass the juvenile system entirely. Under Arizona Revised Statutes § 13-501, prosecutors possess direct-file authority to charge juveniles aged 14 to 17 as adults when they are accused of Class 2 felonies or violent crimes involving deadly weapons, as explained by FindLaw. Separately, Arizona law strictly prohibits unemancipated minors under 18 from carrying or possessing firearms on public streets without parent or guardian supervision, classifying unauthorized possession as a Class 6 felony subject to mandatory weapon seizure, according to the same legal database. It remains unclear who supplied Gonzales with the handgun; under Arizona Revised Statutes § 13-3109, selling or giving a firearm to a minor without written parental consent is itself a Class 6 felony, per the Giffords Law Center.
Part of a Wider Surge in Arizona Road Rage
The shooting fits into a broader pattern of escalating road rage violence across the state. Road rage traffic collisions in Arizona doubled from roughly 500 cases annually to more than 1,000 between 2020 and 2024, while annual road rage fatalities doubled from three to six over the same period, according to KPHO-TV. During that same stretch, the Phoenix Police Department's specialized traffic unit shrank from about 200 dedicated officers down to roughly 30, the station reported. National data compiled by Everytown Research & Policy found Arizona had the second-highest rate of people shot in road rage incidents in the country in 2023, trailing only New Mexico.
The case echoes other recent Phoenix-area road rage shootings. Hoodline previously reported on a fatal 7th Avenue shooting that led to a manslaughter charge against a female driver following a September 2025 confrontation that killed 54-year-old Stephen Guardino. Phoenix police records also indicate that violent road rage incidents along major arterial roads and highway access corridors present heightened public safety challenges, since suspects can quickly escape onto nearby freeways like Interstate 10.
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