Town buys Barney complex / P. 3
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COMMUNITY .........15 QC woman wins teaching grant after law enforcement career.
SUNDAY, JANUARY 29, 2023
That’s agritainment: Circle K’s new look in QC BY MARK MORAN Tribune Staff Writer
C
ircle K convenience stores are common all over the state but the one coming soon to Queen Creek will be like none of them. “What you have is a Circle K that is not a rectangular box,” said Mark Schnepf, owner
of Schnepf Farms, who sold Circle K the land on Schnepf Farms to build the new store. Schnepf said the store, on the northwest corner of Rittenhouse and Riggs roads, will serve as a model for future ones. “It has a pitched roof, which is hardly ever, ever done,” he said. “It has angles on it and overhangs that make it look like it’s a farm building, like it belongs on a farm. I sold Cir-
cle K 2 acres but on the condition that I had approval over the design and they agreed to that. It took a while.” He said the store will have a single lane of gas pumps, not two or more – which are common at convenience stores – and that it will have a “country store” feel. See
SCHNEPF page 4
QC shooting prompts parents’ gun campaign BY CECILIA CHAN Tribune Staff Writer
BUSINESS...............17 QC veterinarian cares for animals big and small.
SPORTS .................. 21 JJ Newcombe is lighting a fire for Casteel basketball.
COMMUNITY ..........................15 BUSINESS................................17 OPINION...................................19 SPORTS......................................21 GET OUT................................... 23 CLASSIFIEDS........................... 27
A
year and four months have passed but the death of his 15-year-old son Christian still gnaws at Bruce Petillo’s
heart. “We are devastated,” the Gilbert dad said. “You never come to terms with it. “The fact that this was a preventable accident makes it worse.” It was Labor Day weekend 2022 and Christian was at a friend’s house on a county island in Queen Creek. The friend was showing off his mom’s handgun to Christian and other boys in a bedroom. As Christian held the gun, it went off, firing a 9mm bullet into his chest, according to the Maricopa County Sheriff ’s report. The high school sophomore was rushed to the hospital and later pronounced dead. The Maricopa County Medical Examiner determined the shooting was accidental.
Christian Petillo’s family keeps a small memorial table in their Gilbert home with photos and keepsakes of their dead son, who accidentally shot himself at a friend’s Queen Creek area house in September 2021. (David Minton/Staff Photographer) The Petillos’ youngest child also left behind a brother and sister. “As parents you’re constantly looking to protect your children,” Petillo said. “I lay
Central Arizona College www.centralaz.edu
awake at night thinking about ‘what if.’ “Quite frankly we were supposed to be See
GUNS page 10
Paths to Great Careers