Police say Susan Gehrke was fatally injured after approaching a man who had just been knocked to the ground outside an apartment.
TUCSON, Ariz. — The homicide of Susan Marie Gehrke began, according to investigators, as a two-victim assault: one man was knocked to the sidewalk, Gehrke moved toward him, and then she suffered the blow and fall that would prove fatal.
The injured man has received far less public attention than Gehrke, but police accounts place him at the center of the sequence investigators are using to explain what happened late July 24 at an apartment complex at 1201 N. Alvernon Way. Authorities allege Dahseir Edward Jefferson, 27, punched the man during a confrontation and then struck Gehrke when she came toward him. Both victims fell and suffered serious injuries. Gehrke, 61, died July 29. Jefferson now faces second-degree murder in her death after initially being booked on two aggravated-assault allegations. He has not been convicted in the case.
Officers responded to the complex at about 10 p.m. and found the injured man and woman, according to Tucson police. The initial public account was broad: the pair had been on or near an apartment patio when another man approached, became confrontational and assaulted them. Investigators later identified Jefferson and searched for him for several days. That first description did not explain what started the confrontation or which victim was struck first. A probable cause statement later reported by Law&Crime supplied the alleged order of events and showed how the injuries to one victim immediately preceded those suffered by the other.
The statement says Jefferson had been knocking on a neighbor’s door. Gehrke, who was visiting her boyfriend at the complex, came outside and told Jefferson the resident was not home. Her grandson, Frankie Zills, later said Jefferson responded by swearing at her. Gehrke’s boyfriend then stepped outside and briefly argued with Jefferson, according to investigators. Police allege Jefferson punched him in the face. The man fell backward and hit his head on the sidewalk. Authorities documented a laceration beneath his left eye, a large contusion on his head and scrapes on his back and knee before he was taken to a hospital in critical condition.
Gehrke then approached the fallen man, investigators say. Jefferson allegedly struck her in the face as well. Police said she fell, hit her head and lost consciousness. She suffered a brain bleed and required intubation. The force of the encounter also damaged her dentures, according to investigators. Her grandson told 13 News that Gehrke was not someone who sought out confrontation and believed she had gone toward her boyfriend because she wanted to help him. The family statement about her intent goes beyond what police can establish directly, but it aligns with the sequence in the probable cause statement placing her movement toward the man after he fell.
The two victims’ medical paths then diverged in the information released publicly. The man survived at least long enough to be hospitalized in critical condition, but reliable reports reviewed for this story did not provide a later confirmed update on his condition. Gehrke remained in life-threatening condition until her death five days after the assault. 13 News later reported that an autopsy identified blunt-force trauma to her head as the cause of death and classified the manner as homicide. The station said the examination also documented other injuries. The homicide classification describes how she died; criminal responsibility still must be established through the court process.
The lack of a later public update about the male victim leaves one part of the case incomplete outside the courtroom. His injuries produced one of the original aggravated-assault allegations against Jefferson, and his encounter provides the immediate context for Gehrke’s alleged assault. Yet reports reviewed for this article did not disclose his name, a final medical status or a detailed public account from him. They also did not establish whether he and Jefferson knew each other before that night. Police have described an argument and alleged assault but have not publicly announced a motive that explains why the confrontation escalated.
Four days after the incident, investigators located Jefferson near Speedway Boulevard and Country Club Road, police said. He was arrested July 28 and booked on suspicion of two counts of aggravated assault. During an initial court appearance, the state said one of the victims was not expected to survive, according to 13 News. Gehrke then died July 29, prompting the murder accusation. The change underscores the different legal consequences attached to the two victims: one allegation remained tied to serious injuries, while Gehrke’s death allowed prosecutors to pursue a homicide charge based on the same overall encounter.
Jefferson’s background subsequently became another focus of coverage. Local reporting based on court and correctional records said he had been convicted of third-degree burglary in 2019 and aggravated assault in 2021. He received a five-year prison sentence in the assault case and was released in October 2024. 13 News also reported several disciplinary findings during his incarceration. Those records help explain why Gehrke’s family has questioned how the justice system handled Jefferson before July 2026. They do not establish his guilt in the new case, which must be decided separately from his previous convictions.
Frankie Zills was among the relatives who publicly challenged the system after his grandmother’s death, asking why people with violent records are released and arguing that rehabilitation had failed in Jefferson’s case. His criticism was sharpened by the family’s description of Gehrke’s life before the attack. Relatives said she had survived cancer twice, spent years working to support her family and was approaching retirement. She would have turned 62 on Aug. 3, just days after her death. Instead of celebrating a birthday and preparing for retirement, the family said it was arranging a funeral.
Relatives also described the impact of seeing Gehrke after she was hospitalized. Her daughter, Felicia, said the injuries had altered her appearance so much that she decided a 15-year-old family member should not visit her bedside. The family’s accounts gave the public a sense of the severity of the assault before the autopsy findings were reported. Professional descriptions of the injuries can be stated more narrowly: investigators said Gehrke was knocked unconscious and suffered a brain bleed after the alleged punch and fall, and the later autopsy attributed her death to head trauma.
Because the case involves two alleged assaults occurring moments apart, each part of the sequence may matter as prosecutors present their case. The first encounter establishes what investigators say Jefferson was doing immediately before Gehrke was struck. Gehrke’s movement toward the injured man then provides the transition to the second alleged assault. Public reports, however, do not contain the complete evidence that may be introduced in court, such as all witness testimony or Jefferson’s defense. They also do not answer whether any additional evidence has altered investigators’ understanding of the confrontation since the early probable cause statement.
The available facts therefore support a defined but incomplete account. Police say two people were assaulted at the same Tucson apartment complex late July 24. Jefferson was arrested four days later. Gehrke died the next day, and an autopsy later classified her death as a homicide. Authorities charged Jefferson with second-degree murder and held him on a total bond reported as $650,000. Law&Crime said an arraignment was scheduled for Aug. 11, but reliable sources reviewed for this article did not establish a subsequent final outcome. The second victim’s later medical condition also remained unconfirmed in those reports.
The continuing legal case will determine whether prosecutors can prove Jefferson criminally responsible for Gehrke’s death and the injuries suffered by the other man. Until then, the allegations remain allegations. What is already established is that the July 24 encounter produced two seriously injured victims and one death, ending the life of a grandmother whose family said she had twice survived cancer and was almost ready to retire. The surviving man’s role in those opening moments remains an essential part of the same case, even as Gehrke’s death has understandably become its central public focus.
Author note: Last updated September 9, 2026.