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Mesa PD: Man shot girlfriend with rifle at point-blank range

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A 21-year-old man is facing second-degree murder charges in connection with the June 1 death of his girlfriend earlier this month.

Court records released Thursday allege Carmen Rosario shot Liliana Naranjo with a rifle at point-blank range inside their Mesa home near 8th Avenue and Stapley Drive.

Police said the couple was staying with two other people at the residence having arrived together from Utah about a month earlier. 

On June 1, Rosario reportedly texted one of the other residents, telling him, "something bad had happened at the house," and advising him not to return.

The residents found the victim and a rifle round near the victim, police said.

Osorio was located by investigators three days later at his sister's home in Casa Grande. He fled in a vehicle but was stopped and detained near Coolidge. Rosario was transported to jail and refused to answer any questions. The next day Osorio's brother-in-law found the rifle, hidden in bushes near the home.

Police said Osorio had been arrested and deported twice before by border patrol, once in 2011 and again in 2014.

He now faces charges of second-degree murder and tampering with evidence.