Mormon Lake, AZ: 3 killed in shooting during Mormon Lake motorcycle rally are ID'd

by Luci Scott - Jul. 24, 2011 10:10 PM
The Arizona Republic

The safety manager for a major contractor on the Sky Train construction project in Phoenix was among the dead in Friday night's shooting at a northern Arizona campground, authorities said Sunday.

Edgar Atzin, 45, died of gunshot wounds during a motorcycle rally at Mormon Lake in what detectives suspect is a murder-suicide.

Also dead from gunshots were his wife, Trina Ann Atzin, 43, and Christian Tejada, 38, of Peoria.


A fourth victim, an unidentified 33-year-old woman, was in critical but stable condition at Flagstaff Medical Center.

The Atzins lived in the 2500 block of West Straight Arrow Lane in Phoenix. Edgar Atzin was safety manager at the Phoenix office of Weitz Co., a national general contractor.

Right after the shooting at about 11:20 p.m. Friday, Coconino County sheriff's deputies found the Atzins and the second woman lying near a camp trailer. The survivor had been shot six times, sheriff's spokesman Gerry Blair said.

Some distance from the trailer, a witness found Tejada lying on the ground with a single gunshot wound under his chin and a handgun close to one of his hands.

Detectives are investigating the possibility that the shooting were fueled by alcohol and "the strong possibility" that Tejada argued with another member of the group regarding food, leading to the shooting, Blair said.

It is believed that the four were camping together and were friends, he said.

Bryan Bernardo, a vice president at Weitz's Phoenix office, said Edgar Atzin had worked in construction his entire adult life and that he had been with Weitz about three years.

"He was just a great guy, a great worker," Bernardo said.

Weitz is one of the contractors building the PHX Sky Train, the new rail connection to Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport. The first part, from 44th Street in Phoenix to the East Economy Lot and Terminal 4, is under construction and scheduled to open in 2013.

One of Atzin's friends was Sergei Guk, who owns a building-restoration company. He said Atzin had been a client.

Guk said their working relationship morphed into a friendship, and the two had been planning to attend Bike Week in Las Vegas in September.

Guk said Atzin was conscientious in his job.

"His job was to be the guy who was responsible for everybody's safety on the project," Guk said. "It was a demanding position."

Atkin recently had a close call on the road when a car sideswiped his motorcycle.

"He just got it worked on and built the way he wanted," Guk said. "He got his bike fixed and put back together."

On Friday night after the shooting, two other women in the area were taken to Flagstaff Medical Center for possible shock, Blair said.

"It was very chaotic," said rally participant Ken Daniels, 48, of Phoenix, who was about 200 feet away from the campsite when the shooting occurred. The annual motorcycle gathering was billed as the "Too Broke for Sturgis" rally, a reference to the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, the largest in the nation, which takes place in South Dakota. The 71st anniversary rally in Sturgis is scheduled Aug. 8-14.

It was the first time Daniels had attended Too Broke for Sturgis, but he has been to other rallies.

"This is an extremely rare situation," he said. "It was probably something personal, and it could have happened anywhere."

The Coconino County Sheriff's Office is continuing to investigate.

Mormon Lake is in Coconino National Forest.

Republic reporter Amy B Wang contributed to this article.