Police arrested a man in connection with a fatal shooting Sunday at a Howard Johnson hotel in Phoenix.
Officers arrived at the hotel near 40th Streets and Van Buren at around 8:30 p.m. Domingo and I discovered a guy with a gunshot wound to the abdomen. He was taken to the hospital where he later died.
In the following days, detectives interviewed witnesses and watched surveillance videos to expand the likely cause of Gustavo Torres’ arrest, 26. He was arrested on Tuesday and could face first-degree murder charges.
According to probable cause filed in court through police, Torres’ black BMW matched the description of a hotel guest who witnessed the shooting, as well as the surveillance video showing a black sedan arriving at the hotel about 15 minutes before the shooting. The shot itself was not captured by the camera.
Torres then admitted to police that he was at the Howard Johnson Hotel on Sunday when he and another guy began arguing, according to the probable cause statement. Torres pulled out his gun as a warning and shot it when the guy grabbed it, police said.
Police discovered a box of howitzers at the hotel that matched a 9 mm pistol recovered from Torres’ car.
Torres is scheduled to appear in court for an initial hearing on August 20.
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