Court documents detail how case was made to arrest suspected Serial Street Shooter
May 19, 2017, 2:58 PM | Updated: 8:04 pm
Aaron Juan Saucedo, the suspect in the Serial Street Shooter case in Phoenix, is shown. (Phoenix Police Photos)
(Phoenix Police Photos)
PHOENIX — Court documents released Friday detailed how law enforcement officials made their case to arrest Aaron Juan Saucedo, the suspect in the fatal Phoenix Serial Street Shooter.
The documents said ballistics evidence and two of Saucedo’s coworkers were the start of a long investigation that eventually led to Saucedo’s arrest.
His coworkers called police in August 2016 after they noticed he looked similar to a composite sketch of the suspect, who at that point police believed had killed at least eight people.
They also said Saucedo was growing out his facial hair and had recently stopped driving an early 2000s BMW 5 series, similar to a car used in many of the shootings.
Police first interviewed Saucedo on Dec. 22, 2016. He told detectives he had access to the BMW and that he owned a 9 mm handgun, but that it had been stolen.
Click the image to see a timeline of Phoenix police’s case against Saucedo.
Saucedo later filed a police report about the gun and investigators learned that Saucedo had bought it on Feb. 21, 2016. That timeline puts the weapon in his possession between March and July 2016, when eight of the shootings occurred.
Saucedo was first arrested for the fatal shooting of 61-year-old Raul Romero, his mother’s boyfriend. Romero was was killed Aug. 16, 2015, near Bethany Home Road and Seventh Street in Phoenix.
That shooting was not originally connected to the Serial Street Shooter case.
Police said a 9 mm Hi-Point handgun used to kill Romero was purchased by Saucedo at a pawnshop on July 2, 2015 and sold back to the same pawnshop on Sept. 1, 2015.
Ammunition purchased by Saucedo also matched casings found at the scene.
After his April arrest in the Romero shooting, police seized Saucedo’s BMW. Detectives said the car matched the one seen in video evidence and a 9 mm casing found in the car matched ballistics evidence from eight of the shootings.
Saucedo was also linked to the .380-caliber handgun used to kill Jesse Olivias on Jan. 1, 2016. The documents said Saucedo’s father took the gun — which was purchased by Saucedo on Sept. 1, 2015 — from him because of “safety concerns.”
That gun was turned over to police as evidence by Saucedo’s father.
The documents did not indicate why evidence from another string of shootings along Interstate 10 was turned over to police for the Serial Street Shooter investigation. Phoenix Police Chief Jeri Williams later said the cases were not linked.
Saucedo is accused of at least 12 shootings and faces 28 felony charges, including eight counts of first-degree murder. Williams said he could be tied to more shootings.
Saucedo declared his innocence in court earlier this month.
