Rapper's family mourns 'a very giving kid'

Shot ended teen's dreams

Photos by Max Becherer / Staff
Zazueta's girlfriend Andrea Molina, left, parents Martha and Richard Zazueta, sister Devin, brother-in-law Christian Encinas.

Zachary Zazueta, a 2001 Tucson High Magnet School graduate, in his senior portrait. StarNet RealVideo extra: Watch the Zazueta family appeal the public for help in finding the person or persons responsible for the shooting death of their son, Zachary. $2,500 reward * Anyone with information on the shooting should call 911 or 88-CRIME, the Pima County Attorney's Office's anonymous tip line. A $2,500 reward is offered. A car wash will be held Thursday from noon to 6 p.m. at Burger King, 2040 E. Irvington Road, to raise money to help the family. Services set * There will be a rosary at 7 p.m. Friday at St. Ambrose Church, 300 S. Tucson Blvd. The funeral Mass will be Saturday at 10 a.m., at the church.

Hours before 18-year-old rap artist Zachary Zazueta was shot and killed outside a West Side house party early Sunday, he stood facing his girlfriend in her parents' kitchen and talked about marriage.

"He said, 'This is how
we'll stand when we get married,' " 17-year-old Andrea Molina said between sobs Tuesday as she and members of Zazueta's family pleaded for information that will solve the shooting.

No arrests have been made, although police are pursuing "some" investigative leads, said Tucson police Sgt. Marco Borboa, a department spokesman.

Zazueta, of the Tucson group III Grand, was leaving a party near West Grant and North Silverbell roads when he was shot. He was found dead about 1:40 a.m. in the car, which stopped in the middle of the road about a half-block north of the party.

Police believe he was trying to avoid a conflict that erupted after several people were asked to leave the party. Two other people were shot and suffered non-life-threatening injuries.

Zazueta's family said he was the kind of person who would leave dangerous situations. He cared deeply for friends and family, they said, and loved working with children when he wasn't busy with his promising musical future.

"Anybody out there will tell you he was a very giving kid," said Zazueta's mother, Martha.

"He was a role model," added Zazueta's brother-in-law, Christian Encinas. "He always did everything he could to keep people out of trouble."

Molina said: "He just flashed that smile and you were comfortable with him."

That Saturday night wasn't the first time in their more than two years together that Zazueta talked marriage, Molina said, clutching a stuffed Eeyore doll, the donkey from Winnie the Pooh. Her hands moved constantly from the doll, which she gave Zazueta for their first Christmas together, to a necklace he gave her.

Zazueta, who met Molina through KIDCO, an after-school program run by the city's Parks and Recreation Department, also talked about having children, Molina said. He wanted to teach his sons to play baseball. But he wanted Molina to go to college first, she said. He wanted her to follow her dreams, just as he was following his.

"I know someone at that party knows who did it," Martha Zazueta said.

* Contact L. Anne Newell at 629-9412 or lnewell@azstarnet.com.