Briefly: Arivaca robbery suspects in custody

A series of robberies in Arivaca ended with the apprehension of two suspects after a brief pursuit Tuesday.

Law enforcement from both the Pima County Sheriff’s Department and the U.S. Border Patrol responded to reports of burglaries in the early evening in the area around the 15,000 block of Crooked Sky Road and the 15,000 block of West Broken Wheel Road, Pima County Sheriff’s Department reports said.

Two Hispanic male suspects, identified in reports as Lloyd Aviles, 25, and Jose Mendez-Delgado, 26, were captured and placed into custody.

After speaking with various victims, officers learned that some victims, after walking to a home they were house-sitting, found two Hispanic males apparently eating, at which point they pointed a gun at the victim and told them to get out, the report said.

Pima County officers learned that Border Patrol agents had begun a search of the area west of the residences on the 15,000 block of Broken Wheel Road, and drove to Crooked Sky road to search on foot and meet up with them. While searching, officers came upon a trail that they followed to a shed, where one officer reported hearing two voices speaking in Spanish.

The officers ordered those inside to exit the shed, but the two suspects fled on foot, the report said. The clothing of the suspects matched the description given by the victims. The suspects ran toward a parked black SUV near a home on the 16,000 block of West Mesquite Vista before splitting apart. The suspects were eventually apprehended with the aid of a Border Patrol helicopter and placed under arrest.

A run of the license plate revealed that the SUV belonged to a resident on the 15,000 block of Crooked Sky road. After arriving at the home, officers noted that it showed signs of forced entry. A search near the home where the SUV was found revealed a cut fence, as well as a gun near a group of trees.

The report notes that a .25 caliber pistol had been stolen from a home on Crooked Sky Road earlier that day.

Another vehicle found near the shed from which the suspects fled was found to belong to an Arivaca resident. Inside the Toyota Land Cruiser was an assortment of property from power tools to a television, the report said. Officers noted that the vehicle showed signs of having been recently driven through a lot of brush, due to various branches found on the hood.

Neither vehicle had been reported stolen.

Five homes or properties had either shown signs of being burglarized or were reported as such throughout the report.

Lighning strikes man working on Sahuarita home

By Jaime Richardson, Green Valley News

An 18-year-old man is in serious condition after being struck by lightning Tuesday evening while repairing the roof of a Sahuarita mobile home.

Sahuarita police were first on the scene and performed CPR on the man, who was found unconscious and without a heartbeat, before fire crews arrived at the trailer on La Villita Road, said Rural/Metro Fire Department spokesperson Anne Marie Braswell.

Paramedics used a defibrillator to restore heart function as he was transported to a Tucson hospital, she said.

As of Wednesday, the victim, whose name was not released, was hospitalized in critical condition at Carondolet St. Mary's Hospital, said Green Valley Fire District spokesperson Captain Melissa Smith.

Smith says a small burn on the man's right foot appears to have been the entry point of the lightning.

The man is not a Sahuarita resident but was visiting the owner of the trailer, said Braswell.

He was attempting to fix a leak in the roof in preparation for the upcoming storm, she said.

jrichardson@gvnews.com | 547-9726