Man arrested in Phoenix-area shootings

Associated Press

MESA, ARIZ.

A gunman killed one person and wounded five others Wednesday in a rampage that included a motel shooting, a carjacking and a home invasion and ended with his arrest at a nearby apartment in suburban Phoenix.

The suspect was taken into custody after officers spotted him on an apartment balcony and deployed a stun gun. Numerous officers later led a handcuffed man to a truck parked outside an apartment complex. Police did not immediately release his identity.

The incident started with an argument inside a room at a motel and spilled outside, leaving one man dead and two women wounded, Mesa Detective Esteban Flores said.

The suspect then shot a man working at a nearby restaurant. That victim, an adult student at nearby East Valley Institute of Technology, was able to run across the street to emergency responders already at the motel, Flores said. The school said in a statement that he was one of seven students and an instructor working at Bistro 13 restaurant. The student has been treated and released from a hospital.

The suspect carjacked the instructor’s car and got away.

The suspect then purportedly went to an apartment complex about 2 miles away, where he gained entry into an apartment and shot a man. That victim will survive, police said. According to Flores, a police officer spotted a man in a neighboring apartment building with multiple gunshot wounds. He is listed in critical condition.

The shootings prompted an intense hunt for the suspect as Mesa police searched the trunks of cars, interviewed witnesses and brought in SWAT and canine units from other agencies. Flores warned people in the neighborhood to remain indoors.