Man arrested after four people dead in five separate shootings
Iren Byers, 20, turned himself in to police in Mesa on Sunday and confessed to five separate shootings on Friday night.
A man in Arizona turned himself in after going on a deadly shooting spree that left four people dead across the Phoenix metropolitan area.
Iren Byers, 20, turned himself in to police in Mesa on Sunday and confessed to five separate shootings on Friday night.
Police realized the five shootings were related after they discovered similar 9mm shell casings at the crime scenes. They were able to link all of them to a single handgun.
Byers has now been charged with four counts of first-degree murder and one count of attempted murder for the crime spree.
According to a probable cause affidavit, Byers said he was motivated by a hatred of drugs and drug users, and repeatedly told investigators he felt ‘no remorse’ for his victims.
The first victim was identified as 41-year-old Nicholas Arnstad, who was found near a canal in Phoenix dead from a gunshot wound to the head around 2.45pm on Friday afternoon.
Byers confessed to the killing after police showed him a photo of the victim. He told police that Arnstad was smoking fentanyl, which he didn’t like because his brother also abused the drug.
The shooter then traveled by bus to Beverly Park in Mesa, where he met 41-year-old man Julian Cox, who began talking to him about ‘the blues’ – a street name for fentanyl.
Cox’s body was not discovered until around 10.30pm on Friday night, police said.
Byers reportedly met the third victim, another 41-year-old man named Stephen Young, near a light rail station in Mesa. He shot Young in the head after he began talking about finding fentanyl.
The fourth victim was identified as John Swain, 40, a homeless man Byers met near railroad tracks in Mesa.
Finally, the last victim was identified as 36-year-old Angela Fonseca, who he met at a hotel in Mesa, about half a mile from Beverly Park.
‘He started to talk with victim #5 until she made him so mad he had to shoot her in the face,’ the affidavit states. Fonseca survived the attack and was hospitalized in critical condition.
The affidavit also says that Byers refused to call 911 after each of the shootings, as he felt the victims did not deserve medical attention.
On Sunday, Byers confessed to the shootings and told police where they could find the clothes he wore and handgun he used during the crimes.
The shooter had hidden them in his grandmother’s apartment in Mesa. After executing a search warrant, they found the clothing and murder weapon stashed in a fanny pack, the affidavit states.
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