Yaqui leader’s brother fatally shot

By Brady McCombs
Arizona Daily Star

The 32-year-old brother of the chairwoman of the Pascua Yaqui Tribe was shot and killed early New Year's Day on the reservation, authorities said.

Gabriel Frias, the brother of Chairwoman Herminia Frias, died from apparent shotgun wounds around 4 a.m. Monday, said Deborah McCarley, an FBI spokeswoman in Phoenix.

Pascua Yaqui police and FBI agents spent Monday at the corner of Tarook and Vatgue streets on the reservation southwest of Tucson, collecting evidence and surveying the scene.

The FBI is handling the investigation. No arrests had been made, McCarley said, and the circumstances of the shooting remained unclear.

Gabriel Frias, the youngest of six children, is survived by his parents and his three children — a 12-year-old son, a 2-year-old daughter and a 3-week-old boy, Herminia Frias said.

"He was a good father to them," she said. "They were the most important people in his life."

Gabriel Frias was a "happy-go-lucky" guy with a big heart, and he worked in construction, landscaping and masonry, his sister said. His passion was fixing cars, something he learned to do on his own, she said. He had a Mustang that he often worked on, she said.

"He was a curious kid and a curious guy," she said.

An active participant in tribal culture and someone who made people laugh and feel good, he was well-liked in the community, Herminia Frias said.

"Sometimes we would see him; sometimes we wouldn't," she said, but he had a good attitude toward life.

"He tried his hardest. Whatever he did, he tried to do the best that he could," she said. "He had a good heart, and we are going to miss him."

Neighbors said there were the usual New Year's Eve fireworks and celebratory gunshots the night before, but when they went to sleep, all was quiet.

They awoke to find two intersections and several houses cordoned off. FBI agents searched for evidence, and tribal officers kept onlookers outside the area.

Lupita Pallanes, who lives a few houses down from the crime scene, said she was shocked by the shooting. There are problems in the area, she said, but they are more likely to take the form of bashed-in mailboxes than homicides.

There were no slayings on the reservation last year.

Pallanes said she felt especially bad for the chairwoman to have to deal with a personal tragedy on top of her official responsibilities.

"She has been a good chairwoman," Pallanes said. "She has kept up with her responsibilities, and to be hit with something like this is just terrible."

Frias, 33, became the tribe's first female leader in June 2004. She also is a biochemist who is studying for a master's degree in public health at the University of Arizona.

She heads a tribe with 14,600 enrolled members, nearly 4,000 of whom live on the reservation. The tribe has 1,395 acres off West Valencia Road and South Camino de Oeste.

The Yaquis originate from the Río Yaqui Valley in Sonora and are descendants of the ancient Toltecs. The name "Yaqui" was given to the Yoeme, which means "people," by Spaniards who arrived in Yaqui territory in 1533. The Yaquis fled from Mexico because of government persecution in the late 1800s, and by the early 1900s a large group had settled permanently in Arizona.

In addition to the reservation, Yaquis live in four main communities: Old Pascua Village, east of Interstate 10 and south of West Grant Road in Tucson; Barrio Libre, in South Tucson; Yoem Pueblo, in Marana; and Guadalupe, near Phoenix.