Phoenix serial killing suspect seemed to live in isolation

PHOENIX (AP) — The man dubbed by police as the Serial Street Shooter has left behind few signs of what his life was like before he was arrested in Phoenix’s first serial killings in a decade.

Aaron Saucedo, 23, didn’t have a criminal record, as many people accused of murder often have. He didn’t have a visible presence on social media as most millennials do. And he still lived with his mother and had held a series of low-paying jobs.

This hazy portrait of Saucedo emerged as police said Saucedo was a serial killer responsible for 12 nighttime shootings from August 2015 until July 2016 that unnerved residents of a largely Latino neighborhood. Saucedo declared to a judge “I’m innocent” as he made a brief court appearance Monday night. Saucedo has held various jobs over the years, including working as a laborer for a home remodeling company and as a city bus driver. In court documents, he said he made $1,000 a month.

Police say Saucedo knew only his first victim — a man who was in a relationship with his mother and was gunned down outside the victim’s home in August 2015. Police say he used a 9mm pistol that he sold at a pawn shop two weeks later.

Less than a month after the killing, Saucedo was ticketed for failing to stop at a red light while driving a city bus in the Maryvale neighborhood — the section of Phoenix where most of the victims were killed.