Phoenix 'serial street shooter' reports offer new details in triple homicide
Two vehicles sitting about 4 miles apart in west Phoenix were sprayed with bullets in the early-morning hours of June 12.
An empty silver Chevrolet Silverado was hit three times on the passenger side and twice in the driver’s window.
Less than an hour later, gunfire shattered the windows of a red Chevrolet Cobalt, killing all three people who were inside it listening to music. The victims were Angela Linner, 31, Stefanie Ellis, 33, and Stefanie’s daughter, 12-year-old Maleah Ellis.
Phoenix police say both incidents were tied to a “serial street shooter” believed to be responsible for seven murders.
The Phoenix Police Department on Thursday released edited case reports on the two shootings, among the nine total incidents attributed to the shooter. On Tuesday, the department released reports on the three earliest shootings, in April and May.
The latest reports released follow a familiar trajectory: Witnesses, alerted by the sound of gunfire, can recall only the final moments before the suspect and his car disappear.
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In the triple homicide, one witness told police the shooter may have had two passengers in his car when he drove away. The report reiterated what the victims' family told The Arizona Republic in June.
Witnesses at each scene described different cars. A witness to the first shooting described the car involved as dark-colored. In the narrative on the second shooting, witness accounts described the car as light-colored in one place and dark-colored in another.
The earlier reports recounted the slayings of 55-year-old Krystal Annette White, 21-year-old Diego Verdugo-Sanchez, and the non-fatal shooting of a 16-year-old boy.
Here is a synopsis of the most recently released reports:
June 12, 2016, 2:15 a.m.: Criminal damage-deface
Two witnesses in homes near 63rd Avenue and West Mariposa Street said they looked out their windows after hearing gunshots in the early-morning hours, about 2:15 a.m. Both saw a dark-colored vehicle drive slowly west on West Mariposa Street and turn south on North 63rd Avenue.
The owner of the Silverado pickup also told police he heard gunshots about 2:15 a.m. but said he couldn’t make out the vehicle driving away.
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The victim initially told police he believed a neighbor was involved, and that the two “had a dispute a year ago over them taking customers from each other,” according to the police report.
The incident was reported to police at 2:35 a.m.
The owner told police that about a half-hour after the gunshots, a vehicle slowed down out front as it passed his truck. The vehicle stayed in a driveway with its lights on for a few minutes before making “another pass,” the victim said, this time with its high beams on.
It passed a third time without its lights on at all, and then parked in a driveway again for several minutes before leaving.
Four shell casings were found on the ground next to the Silverado.
Phoenix police spokesman Jonathan Howard said police explored the neighbor theory but have ruled it out.
June 12, 2016, 3:01 a.m.: Murder 1st degree (x3)
It wasn’t unusual for Linner and Stefanie and Maleah Ellis to hang out in an idle car well into the night, listening to music in the Ellises' driveway.
It’s what they were doing in the early-morning hours of June 12 near the 6300 block of West Berkeley Road.
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A barrage of gunfire drew the rest of the family outside.
One witness was in her bedroom when she heard a “pop pop pop” and looked outside her window.
She saw a Hispanic man, about 5 feet 7 inches to 5 feet 10 inches tall, in red shorts and a white T-shirt, standing next to a light-colored four-door vehicle, pointing a semiautomatic handgun at the Chevrolet Cobalt. The witness said she couldn’t make out the two other passengers.
Those who ran to the Cobalt were met with carnage. The driver’s window was shattered, and all three victims were slouched over, bleeding. Linner had one foot outside the passenger door, one witness said.
Family attempted mouth-to-mouth on the victims and tried to stanch their blood with towels, but Maleah Ellis and Linner were pronounced dead at the scene.
Stefanie Ellis was rushed to the hospital in critical condition and would die three weeks later. A family member told The Arizona Republic she had been shot 14 times.
Police collected shell casings and fired bullets from in and around the car.
Linner was discovered to have nearly $3,000 in cash in her pocket, and pills and marijuana were found inside the car. The details helped police rule out robbery as a motive but opened the possibility that the victims could have been targeted.
Police said there was no evidence Linner was involved in the drug trade. She was in the business of flipping cars, an industry that largely deals in cash, Howard said.
