TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — Westside residents are dealing with gunfire coming from state trust land behind their homes, an ongoing issue that has prompted responses from local and state agencies.
PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Dodging bullets: Westside neighbors call for action after gunfire hits homes
Carlos Sam, one of the concerned neighbors, says there’s a lot of riding that goes on, which has never bothered him until shootings started to happen.
"The thing that's going on is that we're getting a lot of people that are going out there and they're firing their firearms and a lot of these shells are starting to hit our homes," Sam said. "We're in fear that one day one of our kids is gonna get hit."
Lynn Cordova, Legislative Policy Administrator for the Arizona State Land Department (ASLD), said the agency closed these lands to recreation in 2019 because of the continuous dangerous activity in the area.
"Target shooting and non-permitted hunting are never allowed. Anyone target shooting or discharging firearms on Trust land is in trespass, and subject to local law enforcement. Because this is an ongoing issue, the Arizona State Land Department (ASLD) closed these lands to recreation in 2019, which means that anyone recreating on these lands is in trespass and subject to local law enforcement," Cordova said in a statement.
There are chains blocking the area off to motorized vehicles and multiple "No Trespassing" signs are present, but they are not stopping people from coming in.
The Pima County Sheriff’s Department (PCSD) said the ASLD has jurisdiction and continues to coordinate with them on issues including illegal shooting, off-road vehicle activity, noise, and encampments.
According to the ASLD, "State Trust land is within the jurisdiction of local law enforcement across the state, and it is within their purview to enforce trespass laws at any time."
"In addition, the ASLD is working with the Pima County Sheriff's Office to fund off-duty patrols to augment local law enforcement in the area," Cordova said in a statement.
Neighbors said they have called 911 many times, but shots continue to be fired.
"We’d like to see concrete action undertaken so we get some enforcement out here," Kim Tatsumi said.
Andrés Cano, Pima County Supervisor for District 5, said it is going to take all agencies working together to get this problem solved.
"To put increased signage and perhaps some physical barriers in some of the open pit areas that we're seeing a lot of these ATV usage taking place," Cano said. "I think we've also got to figure out what kind of enforcement mechanisms we're going to need."
READ MORE: Pima County addresses desert gunfire hitting Westside homes
He wants neighbors to know they have his support in making this right.
"So I think as we try to figure out next steps in this area, they got the district five's commitment, they got my commitment to continue to be their advocate," Cano said.
"I want our neighbors to be safe. I want them to know they are being heard and I do believe we got a lot of eyes on this particular situation on the southwest side — and I thank the neighborhood for coming forward. It's always going to be a difficult circumstance when you see the passion. What would any neighbor do when this is their lived experience? I would be pretty upset."
Neighbors feel like it is only a matter of time until someone gets hurt.
"Cinco de Mayo is going to be like a war zone. I promise you," Sam said.
There is hope that the community meeting with Pima County officials on April 30 will be productive, putting preventative measures in place to ensure that does not happen and stops the gunfire overall.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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Vanessa Gongora is KGUN 9's Westside reporter.. Vanessa fell in love with storytelling by growing up in sports. She was fascinated by how sports reporters go beyond the x's & o's to tell players' stories, and how sports bring people together, inspiring Vanessa to provide the same impact as a journalist. Share your story ideas and important issues with Vanessa by emailing vanessa.gongora@kgun9.com or by connecting on Facebook, Instagram, and X.
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