A man has been arrested in a series of shootings in Arizona that have left five people dead and a woman injured, authorities said Sunday.
Iren Byers, 20, was arrested on Sunday and charged with four counts of first degree murder and one count of attempted first degree murder.
His arrest follows a night of four shootings in Mesa and one in Phoenix. Byers did not provide a motive to cops, but admitted to doing so after ballistics at the five scenes led authorities to him, cops said. The casings recovered from the filming scenes came from the same 9 mm. handgun, which is also the one used in the Phoenix shooting on Friday afternoon, according to police.
Byers confessed and told cops where he hid the clothes and the gun he used.
The carnage began around 10:30 p.m. Friday when police responded to a call at a Mesa park for the body of a 41-year-old man. They heard gunshots nearby which led them to a seriously injured 36-year-old woman. She is hospitalized and is in stable condition, authorities said.
Around 1 a.m. Sunday, another call came in, this one reporting a body near a bus station in Mesa. There, police found a 41-year-old man dead, followed an hour later by the discovery of another body.
The investigation into the series of shootings “is very complex and is in its early stages,” police told KPNX-TV.
Mesa Mayor John Giles spoke out against the violence.
“I am deeply disturbed by the violence in Mesa last night,” he said in a statement obtained by KPNX. “Our Mesa community mourns the victims and mourns with their loved ones. It is a tragedy felt throughout the city.
With dispatch services