Williams announces, Monday, May 8, 2017, in Phoenix, the arrest of 23-year-old Aaron Saucedo in connection with the serial street shootings that terrorized the Phoenix area over four months in 2016. The tip that led to Saucedo was one of the latter, Howard said, just another observation in the Latino-dominated neighborhoods of southern Phoenix that a person and vehicle matched the sketch that police had begun to circulate around the city after the shootings began.
In the end, nine people were killed in 12 separate shootings.
One of the victims, a 21-year-old man who survived being shot at point-blank range on July 11, 2016, while sitting in a auto with his 4-year-old nephew, told Phoenix NBC affiliate KPNX in April that police had recently visited him with several photos of suspects.
The killer was dubbed the Serial Street Shooter.
Police spent more than a year looking for the suspect, Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton said at a press conference Monday.
"Now my heart goes out to those families, and I hope they can get justice, too", said Lora Romero.
The 2015 victim was a 61-year-old man who had dated the suspect's mother, Phoenix Police Chief Jeri Williams said.
Phoenix police said the shootings in the Phoenix neighborhood were not related to 2015 highway shootings in the Phoenix area.
Saucedo already had been charged with killing a man who had been dating his mother.
Police credited the public with helping to solve the case, adding that 3,300 tips were made to a special crime hot line.
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Aaron Saucedo appeared before a judge and acknowledged that he understood the objective of the court appearance to inform him of the allegations.
Most of the killings happened in a largely Latino neighborhood. On 12 June, Stefanie Ellis, 33, her daughter Maleah, 12, and family friend Angela Linner, 31, were shot as they listened to music in a vehicle.
Castro said she was happy a suspect has been arrested but sad because it does not mean her son will come back.
According to police, Saucedo stalked victims after dark, selecting people who were either outside of their homes or sitting in cars before opening fire with a handgun.
Prosecutors said it hasn't been decided how many cases they will take to trial, suggesting the evidence in some is stronger than in others.
The announcement Monday included several cases that had not previously been tied to the Serial Street Shootings, Howard said.
The shootings took place between August 2015 and July 2016.
Police did not identify a motive, nor did they offer details about what specifically had convinced them that Saucedo was connected to all nine slayings. Every day I would just pass by and touch it and pray, "Lord get him. May God bless (Saucedo), and I'm not anybody to wish bad upon him", she said.
"The pain is the same", Castro said.
"The fact of them finding somebody, at least it was some type of news", Smith said.
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