A suspect in the "serial street shootings" that terrorized parts of west and east Phoenix for much of last year is now under arrest for those crimes and others. The shootings appeared to be random, and tended to target people walking along the sidewalk or standing in their front yards.
Phoenix police announced Monday that 23-year-old Aaron Saucedo is suspected not only in the nine shootings between March and July of 2016 that were initially connected by investigators, but also with three additional shootings that happened in August of 2015 and Jaunary of 2016. A total of nine people died in those shootings.
Police arrested Saucedo a few weeks ago for the murder of Raul Romero, his mother's boyfriend, which occurred Aug. 16, 2015. In the meantime, they built their case against him for the other shootings.
Police chief Jeri Williams announced Monday that after tens of thousands of hours of investigating by detectives and more then 3,300 tips to Silent Witness, Saucedo had 26 additional felony counts added to the murder charge that initially landed him in jail. The actual charges against him will be determined by the County Attorney's office based on police reports that are submitted for review.
The shootings stopped last August after a man and his four-year-old nephew were shot at, but not injured, near 32nd St. and Oak. The victim managed to get a look at the shooter and the black BMW that he was driving. He gave that information to police, who put out a description of the car and released a sketch of the suspect.
Police say friends of Saucedo reported that he had a black BMW and stopped driving it around that time.
Investigators also say exhaustive detective work has found NO link between the "serial street shooter" cases and the "freeway shooter" incidents, where someone fired shots at numerous vehicles along Valley freeways in the summer of 2015. No one was hurt in those shootings, although some vehicles were damaged.