Details emerge on overnight Rancho El Dorado shooting

Maricopa Police are investigating an aggravated assault and shooting overnight in Rancho El Dorado that left a man hospitalized with multiple gunshot wounds and internet service interrupted to parts of the city.

Police said just before midnight Wednesday, officers responded to reports of shots fired in the area of Jane Askew Park, on Rancho El Dorado Parkway between Cahill and Balboa drives. When they arrived, officers found an abandoned and, according to Quinn Konold, the Digital Communications Manager for the City of Maricopa, a “likely stolen” utility task vehicle.

At that point, a citizen alerted MPD officers to a gunshot victim, identified as Carlos Uriel Vargas, in the backyard of their residence with gunshot wounds to his hand and bicep. Officers located numerous .223-caliber and 9mm shell casings in the area but did not provide an exact number of rounds fired.

Click to see security video submitted by Kaylea Stoddard below:

Vargas was transported to Chandler Regional Medical Center, where he remains with non-life-threatening injuries.

MPD also located an adult female at the scene who is a known associate of the injured male. She was questioned and later released.

Police said they do not consider this an active shooter situation. They have not identified the outstanding shooter(s) and said there currently is no information regarding a motive for the incident. There is no information at this time regarding arrests or charges.

Maricopa Police Chief James Hughes confirmed the shooting severed multiple fiber-optic lines, causing the outage in Orbitel service to several areas of the city early this morning. The damage caused a loss of service to 1,200 residential customers, as well as some businesses, primarily in the Maricopa Meadows, Alterra, Palo Brea, Desert Cedars, and Acacia Crossings communities and the Heritage District.

According to John Schurz, Orbitel president and general manager, service went out about midnight and was restored by about 8 a.m.