Police hoping to find shooter who killed Phoenix family man in 2016
Aug 9, 2021, 10:45 AM
Andrew Barela (Silent Witness Photo)
(Silent Witness Photo)
This article originally appeared Aug. 29, 2016.
On Jan. 26, 2016, 28-year-old Andrew Barela left his home near 45th Avenue and Camelback Road to go for a walk.
He never came home.
“This didn’t occur very late at night at all,” Phoenix Police Sgt. Jamie Rothschild said. “It was just before 10 p.m. so it’s not unusual that people are out in their neighborhoods prior to bed.”
A red Mustang drove toward Barela and stopped. There was a brief conversation then the driver shot Barela and left him dying in the street.
“We’re told the Mustang was a hardtop and had peeling paint on the trunk and the roof,” Rothschild said.
Detectives are hoping someone either knows the driver or saw the car in the neighborhood that night.
Barela’s fiancée said he was the father of five boys ages 2 to 14. He went to Carl Hayden High School and worked as a machinist and had plans to go to welding school. He was often told he should go into comedy because he was so funny.
He liked to play basketball and hang out with his kids. And, she said, Barela had such a big heart that he would give his last dollar to a stranger if they needed it.
Police really want to find his killer.
Read more about this case here.
