(update below) Coconino County Sheriff’s Deputies and Detectives are investigating a shooting that left two men and one adult woman dead and a forth adult female critically injured. The shooting happened last night at about 11:20 at a Mormon Lake Camp ground. It is believed that the victims were participants in an annual motorcycle rally taking place this weekend called “Too Broke for Sturgis”.
On Friday, July 22, 2011 just after 11:20 pm a Coconino County Sheriff’s Sergeant who was assigned to this event radioed dispatch and advised he had just heard what he believed to be a gunshot. Shortly after that the Northern Arizona 911 Regional Reception Center received numerous 911 calls reporting the shooting and multiple victims down. Deputies identified a camp ground where they believed the shooting occurred and detained approximately forty people checking for victims, suspects and witnesses.
The Deputies located a camp trailer where the shooting occurred. Three of the victims were in front of the trailer while a male was located away form the group deceased with a single gun shot wound and a handgun laying on the ground close to his hand. The second deceased male was on the ground in front of the trailer with multiple gun shot wounds. The two females were both seated in camp chairs in front of the trailer, one female victim was deceased and one female victim who had been shot six times was described as being in critical condition and was flown to the Flagstaff Medical Center where she is being treated. Two other females in the area were transported to the Flagstaff Medical Center for possible shock.
UPDATE) The three deceased individuals of the homicide that occurred on Friday, July 23, 2011, at about 11:20 PM during the annual “Too Broke for Sturgis” motorcycle rally in Mormon Lake, Arizona, are identified as 45-year-old Edgar Atzin of Phoenix Arizona, 43-year-old Trina Ann Atzin of Phoenix, Arizona, and 38-year-old Christian Tejada of Peoria, Arizona. Edgar and Trina are husband and wife. The fourth victim, a 33-year-old female, who is being treated for her injuries at the Flagstaff Medical Center, was listed in critical but stabilize condition as of Sunday at 12:30 PM. It is believed that the four members of this group were camping together and are friends.
Coconino County Sheriff’s detectives continue to investigate the strong possibility that Christian Tejada was involved in a verbal argument with another member of the group regarding food that led to the shooting.
During the initial response to this homicide, deputies found Edgar and Trina Atzin and the second female victim lying in close proximity to the camp trailer. Immediately following the shooting a witness found Christian Tejada lying on the ground some distance from the trailer with a single gunshot wound under his chin and a handgun positioned in close proximity to one of his hands.
Detectives are investigating the possibility that alcohol consumption was a factor in this shooting. Coconino County Sheriff’s detectives and death investigators of the Coconino County Medical Examiner’s Office are continuing this investigation.
Agencies that responded to this shooting included Coconino County Sheriff’s Office, Flagstaff Police Department, Flagstaff Police Tactical Operations Team, Arizona Department of Public Safety, Arizona Department of Public Safety Air Rescue and Guardian Ground and Air Medical Transport. This investigation is sill in its preliminary stages and one possibility detectives are looking into is a Murder-Suicide. The Coconino County Sheriff’s Office is continuing this investigation.
