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Phoenix Police Link 4 More Incidents To 'Serial Shooter'

(Illustration courtesy of the Phoenix Police Department)
Phoenix police have released a sketch of a suspect in a series of shootings that started in March.

Phoenix police have used the words “serial shooter, or shooters,” for the first time in connection with an investigation into a series of homicides and aggravated assaults that started in March.
 
Police said in June that four shootings in Maryvale may be related. Now they’re certain. On Tuesday, investigators said they've forensically linked them to four more incidents in other parts of the city.

Half of the new shootings occurred outside of Maryvale, one near the airport and another near downtown. The others happened west of the area where police had originally focused.
 
In March, a 16-year-old boy was shot near 1100 E. Moreland St. The next day, a 21-year-old man was hit by a bullet near 4300 N. 73rd Ave. Both men suffered non-life threatening injuries.  
 
In April, a 55-year-old woman was found shot to death near 500 North 32nd St. Her murder brings the death toll to seven.
 
On June 12 — about 30 minutes before what would become a triple homicide — gunfire struck an unoccupied vehicle near 6200 West Mariposa Dr.
 
The Maryvale incidents had several things in common. They happened on weekend nights, the victims were shot in front of homes, and there was no clear motive for any of the shootings.
 
The newly identified incidents have some minor differences, said Phoenix police Sgt. Jonathan Howard.

“But again, in a totality of the facts and a totality of the evidence exposed at this point, we’re confident that these incidents are all linked,” Howard said.

Solving the case is the Phoenix Police Department’s highest priority, Howard said.

“We don’t want people to be fearful,” Howard said. “But we want people to be aware of what is going on in their neighborhood. And we want them to report not only suspicious activity, but unfamiliar activity. Give us an opportunity to come out and vet the information, determine if it’s related to this series.”

A handful of local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies have formed a task force, and raised the Silent Witness reward to $30,000. Anyone with information should call 480-948-6377.

Matthew Casey has won Edward R. Murrow awards for hard news and sports reporting since he joined KJZZ as a senior field correspondent in 2015.