Police investigating a serial killer stalking two predominantly Latino neighborhoods in Phoenix found 10 shell casings outside a home where one of seven of those killed suffered at least five gunshots, according to a recently released police report.
(FOX)- Horacio de Jesus Pena, 32, had just returned home June 3 at night from his job at an assisted living facility and had his keys in hand when the attacker known as the “Serial Street Shooter” opened fire, said the report released on Monday after journalists requested that reports on the killings to be made public.
Police found no witnesses who saw the shooting, but one reported seeing a white sedan with shiny wheels or wheel rims parked near Pena’s house before the shooting.
After hearing the shots, the woman told relatives to retreat to the back of her house. When she looked out the front window again, the white car was gone, according to the police report.
Police blame the suspect described as a lanky Hispanic man in his 20s for killing seven people and wounding two others in attacks from mid-March until mid-July, with six of the seven killings happening in the poor neighborhood of Maryvale. The killer always gets out of a car and shoots people at close range from the street or fires from within his car.
His victims include a 21-year-old man whose girlfriend was pregnant with their son and a 12-year-girl who was shot to death along with her mother and a friend of the woman.
Authorities do not believe the attacks are racially motivated but have not identified a motive and have said it’s possible the killer has an accomplice.