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Gangs connected to killing

Up to 60 shots fired at party where man slain Saturday

A fatal gangland shooting that sounded like a war to some East Side residents still is under investigation by Tucson police.

The shooting Saturday night was in the 8200 block of East Nicaragua Drive and began when a gang crashed a party attended by a rival gang, said Sgt. Decio Hopffer, a police spokesman.

So far, he said, none of the shooters has been identified.

Area residents said they heard 20 to 60 shots.

Killed was Wyatt Hoskinson, 19, of South Kolb Road. He died Sunday at University Medical Center.

No one else was hit, “and it’s unbelievable, given the number of rounds that were fired,” Hopffer said.

“It sounded like a firefight,” said Mike Jenkins, who lives within a few doors of the shooting scene.

Jenkins, a primary election candidate for Rep. Jim Kolbe’s congressional seat, is a former Marine combat photographer who served in Vietnam from 1969 to 1970.

“I could hear the shots from my front porch about a mile and a half away,” said Renée Sowards. “It sounded like a gunfight. I would say we heard at least 20 shots.”

Hopffer would not say which gangs were involved.

Gang violence is on the rise in Tucson, with 211 gang-related aggravated assaults last year, the most in at least six years, and 11 gang-related homicides last year, the most in four years, the Tucson Citizen reported in March.

Police ask that anyone knowing anything about the shooting call the county attorney’s anonymous tipster line at 88-CRIME or police at 911.

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