Panic In The Southwest: Serial Killer Kills 7 Victims In Horrifying Arizona Attacks
July 27 2016, Published 9:59 a.m. ET
A kill-crazy phantom, who's viciously gunned down seven innocent victims, including a 12-year-old girl and her mom as they sat in a car listening to music, is holding America's Southwest in a grip of terror.
Arizona cops have branded the elusive monster the "Serial Street Shooter" — and describe him as a white or Hispanic, "thin, lanky man in his 20s" armed with a handgun.
The cowardly stalker prowls residential streets after dark, attacks men, women and children sitting in their cars or standing by them right outside homes, and then vanishes like a phantom in the night.
The 208,000 residents of Phoenix's Maryvale area, where all but one of the attacks took place, are now living in sheer dread — afraid to be in the driveways or yards of their own homes.
Retired casino chef John Tang has changed his grocery shopping habits, explaining, "I don't shop at nighttime. I don't want to be another victim."
A psychologist who claims to have been consulted on the case says the killer's profile "indicates problems with his parents" and "a lust for power and revenge."
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The monster's most vicious and shocking massacre was the most recent — just a few weeks ago.
Stefanie Ellis, 33, her 12-year-old daughter Maleah and friend Angela Linner, 31, were enjoying music while sitting in a car on the driveway at 3 a.m. when the twisted sicko struck.
Trapped in the car, they were sitting ducks for the cowardly fiend, who riddled their bodies with a hail of bullets.
Devastated Dossie Ellis Sr., Stefanie's dad and Maleah's grandfather, says the brazen killer "walked clean in front ... looked through the windshield ... and opened fire. Fourteen bullets in my daughter, 12 bullets in my granddaughter, eight bullets in the other girl. That's 34 bullets."
The rampage began March 17 when the gunman wounded a 16-year-old boy as he was walking. He blasted a 21-year-old man the following day while the victim was standing by a car. Both survived and one was able to give a description to police, who released a composite sketch of the psycho.
The shootings turned deadly two weeks later.
Diego Verdugo-Sanchez, 21, was gunned down while visiting his pregnant fiancée's family.
On April 19, Krystal Annette White, 55, who was visiting an elderly friend, was shot dead.
Two weeks later, Horacio De Jesus Pena, 32, was shot as he returned home from his job at a group home.
And on June 10, the murderer shot dead Manuel Castro Garcia, 19, outside his home.
Cops and federal agents say the savage arrives at his killing grounds in either a light or dark sedan, blasts away with a handgun and flees in the same vehicle.
They also warn that he may have one or more accomplices — and will strike again soon.
Phoenix Police Chief Joe Yahner has issued a $30,000 reward and begged the public to call the confidential Silent Witness tip line if they have any information about the monster.
"Someone out there knows who did this," he said. "We need our community to help us solve these cases, bring justice to these families and prevent more violence."
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Meanwhile, members of the Guardian Angels neighborhood watch are patrolling the streets and have publicly told the gutless creep what they think of him.
Chapter leader Mark Upchurch went on local TV and taunted: "To the serial killer: Hey, you're a coward. Flat out, you're a coward. You killed a 12-year-old girl in a car in her driveway."
But a law-enforcement source believes the killer "is laughing at the cops and figures he can't be caught. I'm terrified the bloodshed is just beginning."
