West Valley shooting suspect indicted on murder charge, 31 in total

PHOENIX — The suspect in a string of West Valley shootings that killed one and injured 12 earlier this month was indicted on a first-degree murder charge and 31 in total, authorities said Monday.

A Maricopa County Grand Jury charged 19-year-old Ashin Tricarico on Friday with nine counts of drive-by shooting, 20 counts of aggravated assault and one count of endangerment in addition to the murder charge, according to court documents.

Tricarico was arrested June 17 and initially booked on charges of first-degree murder, aggravated assault (10 counts), drive by shooting (8 counts) and endangerment.

He was detained in connection with eight shootings in Peoria, Surprise and Glendale over a period of about 90 minutes earlier that day.

Surprise police took him into custody without incident around 12:45 p.m. at 147th and Grand avenues after a member of the Surprise Fire-Medical Department spotted a vehicle connected to the shootings, a white Volkswagen Tiguan, and reported it.

Four people were hit by bullets during the shooting spree, including a victim — 67-year-old David Liebler — found dead in a vehicle on the Loop 101 Agua Fria Freeway near Thunderbird Road.

The nine other injuries were the result of car crashes and shrapnel such as broken glass.

Police said all of the surviving victims are expected to make a full recovery.

There doesn’t appear to be a connection among the victims. They range in age from 19 to 86 and include men and women of various races, police said.

A 3-year-old child was in one of the vehicles that received gunfire but was unharmed, police said.

The shootings took place as far north as Happy Valley Road, as far south as Northern Avenue, as far east as the Loop 101 Agua Fria Freeway and as far west as El Mirage Road. One each occurred on Loop 101 and Loop 303, and the rest were on surface roads. (See map below for details.)

Tricarico was being held on $1 million bond.

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