Arizona police have a suspect in custody after one person was killed and 13 people were injured in a series of what appeared to be drive-by shootings Thursday.
Authorities responded to reports of an active shooter in the West Valley, about 20 miles northwest of downtown Phoenix, at about 12:30 p.m local time, the Surprise Police Department tweeted initially.
The shooting spree resulted in eight separate incidents within about an hour and a half, Surprise and Peoria police said.
Officials believe the first incident occurred at about 11:10 a.m. on the border of Glendale and Peoria and continued through the area until the suspect was detained at about 12:42 p.m.
At least four of the victims were shot and others were injured either in resulting car accidents or shrapnel, according to Peoria Sgt. Brandon Sheffert. The 13 injured are expected to survive and suffered non-life threatening injuries.
“We don’t know the nexus, we don’t know what the motive was, we don’t have an idea of what this person was thinking when he went out and did this,” Sheffert said. “Obviously we want to figure this out because there’s a lot of scared people and people this affected.”
SHOOTING UPDATE – Officers have made a traffic stop on the alleged vehicle involved and have detained 1 suspect.
— Surprise Police Dept (@Surprise_PD) June 17, 2021
Peoria police are leading the investigation though the spree occurred in multiple jurisdictions.
The suspect, an unidentified adult male, was taken into custody by Surprise police officers without incident. He pulled into a parking lot and did not attempt to fire at police officers during a traffic stop, Surprise Police Sgt. Tommy Hale said.
“What I can tell you is that the suspect that we’re seeing, the vehicle that we’re seeing, he’s been taken into custody, and there’s no reason for the public to feel unsafe at this time,” Hale said.
Doha Madani is a breaking news reporter for NBC News. Pronouns: she/her.
