TEMPE MAN FATALLY SHOT - MAN SHOT WAS SUSPECTED OF ROLE IN DRUG RING

A Tempe man snared in an undercover drug bust last fall was shot and killed
Thursday by at least three men who kicked their way into his home and tied
up his girlfriend, two children and a nanny.

Police late Thursday said they had no specific motive why the men targeted
Morris Torres, 44, but are investigating whether the slaying was connected
to his suspected role in a Mexican gang heroin ring.

"We are looking at a tie to anything, everything," police Sgt. Dave Lind
said. "It's early in the investigation."

Lind said detectives have contacted the U.S. District Attorney's Office and
the FBI.

Police said they were not sure what time the men knocked on Torres' door on
East Libra Drive in a quiet residential area. But they believe that three
or four men broke in when Torres' girlfriend, Maria Haydee Castro, answered.

The men bound Castro; Castro's daughter, Loraine Perez, 12; Torres' son,
Marcio, 12; and nanny Nayeli Hernandez, 22. The couple's 1-year-old son,
Marvin Torres, was the only exception.

Morris Torres was taken to another room. Police aren't sure whether there
was a struggle, but the intruders shot Torres, took some money and left.

About 3:20 a.m., Castro went to a neighbor's house and called 911.

"She had duct tape around her hands," said Nancy Hawkes, who lives nearby.
"She was pretty out of control and laid on the doorbell. She probably rang
it about 40 times."

Hawkes, who spoke with the neighbor who let Castro in, said the intruders
presented themselves as police officers.

She described the victims as a "nice family" who would often play outside,
bringing out the family's bird and Rottweiler and pushing the baby in an
orange swing.

Neighbors said they were shocked at last September's arrests. But many
didn't feel threatened by Thursday's shooting.

"I don't think it was a random thing," Hawkes said, "so I'm not personally
worried.

"It seems too cut and dry. I mean, nobody was hurt but him. It was fast,
and it seemed pretty professional."

Torres, who also was known as Maurice Torres, was one of more than 30
people connected to a pair of rival heroin rings that are suspected of
importing large amounts of black tar heroin into the Valley from Mexico.

Police impounded about 30 pounds of heroin during last year's probe, and
prosecutors are calling it the biggest heroin case in Arizona.

Torres, owner of Automax Rental and Leasing in Phoenix, was accused of
supplying "vehicles and license plates to members of the conspiracy in
exchange for cash and narcotics," according to federal indictments.

Police searched the used-car dealership Thursday.

The cases are slated for trial in late spring, and a spokeswoman with the
U.S. Attorney's Office said that nothing has happened recently in Torres'
case.

Torres was released on $30,000 bail in September. In February, his
electronic monitoring device was removed.