Lorenzo Casillas pleads guilty in Yuma shooting near Arizona Avenue, sentencing set for next month

Lorenzo Casillas has admitted guilt in the Yuma shooting near Arizona Avenue and West 32nd Street, moving the case from the charging stage into a sentencing hearing that could send him to prison for years. He now faces a presumptive term of 7.5 years, with the court able to impose as little as five years or as much as 15.

The plea matters because the victim survived. Police were called about 1:50 a.m. on May 9, 2025, after a man was found with gunshot wounds in the area of Arizona Avenue near West 32nd Street. Yuma police said the 32-year-old victim had non-life-threatening injuries, was taken to Onvida Health, and later flown to a Phoenix hospital.

Casillas was first identified in court as Lorenzo Melano Casillas, and he had been facing four felonies, including attempted first-degree murder, after his arrest. He was booked into the Yuma County Detention Center on May 14, 2025, and appeared in court two days later. A second suspect in the same shooting was also arrested, underscoring how the case developed from a street shooting into a broader criminal investigation.

The guilty plea narrows what remains for the court to decide. Prosecutors no longer have to prove the shooting at trial, but the legal resolution is not complete until a judge imposes sentence next month. That means the final consequence for Casillas is still open, even as the case itself moves toward closure.

For the neighborhood around Arizona Avenue and West 32nd Street, the plea marks the end of one of Yuma’s more serious recent violent-crime cases. What began as an early-morning shooting with a man airlifted to Phoenix has now become a conviction path, and the remaining step is a sentencing hearing that will determine how long Casillas serves behind bars.