Indictment issued for man accused of killing Mesa CVS store manager
Sep 20, 2023, 5:30 PM
Jared Sevey is accused of shooting and killing the manager of a CVS store in Mesa, Arizona, on Thursday, Sept. 7, 2023. (Mesa Police Department Photo)
(Mesa Police Department Photo)
PHOENIX — A man accused of killing a CVS store manager in Mesa has been indicted, Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell announced Wednesday.
Jared Sevey, 38, was indicted on six counts including first-degree murder, dangerous felony burglary, two counts of disorderly conduct, tampering with evidence and misconduct involving weapons.
On Sept. 7, Sevey was confronted for allegedly shoplifting at the store. Officials said Sevey allegedly went home, picked up a gun and returned to the store several hours later. He asked to see the manager and told an employee to get everyone out of the store, according to authorities.
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Store surveillance footage shows the manager, 49-year-old Michael Jacobs, approaching the suspect. Video shows Sevey pulling a pistol from his waistband and shooting the victim several times, according to authorities.
Sevey has a cash bond set at $1 million.
County attorney calls for standardized records on felony convictions
Sevey was a prohibited possessor, according to the attorney’s office.
Mitchell explained they are seeing a huge correlation between people who have felony convictions whose rights have not been restored and people who go on to commit violent crimes.
“One of the situations that we’ve been encountering is some of these individuals come from other states. And so there are felony convictions are recorded in other states,” she said.
Mitchell said the office has reached out to the congressional delegation members in Arizona to ask Congress to pass legislation that requires every state to keep a standardized record on people’s felony convictions.
“My prosecutors have to prove that beyond a reasonable doubt in court that the person has a felony conviction and some states do not keep adequate records for that. So we’ve asked the congressional delegation to pass legislation that requires certain minimums,” she said.
The law would help the office prove that someone has a felony prior and it can be used in a number of ways, according to Mitchell.
“It could be used to show that there are prohibited possessor, if they have a handgun. It could also be used to show on that the person has prior felony convictions for sentencing purposes,” Mitchell said.
