ALSO Four shot dead:
Police arrest suspect seen running near crime scene
A suspect is in custody after being arrested near the crime scene in Casa Grande where four people were shot dead at a residence Thursday morning. Two schools in the area were on lockdown for about two hours.
Four people were fatally shot in Casa Grande on Thursday morning.
Casa Grande police are investigating the shooting, which took place between Farmers Avenue and Ash Avenue on West 13th Street in a duplex-type residence around 8:15 a.m. Neighbors called police to report hearing gunshots, and police found the bodies in the home.
All appeared to have died of gunshot wounds, said Thomas Anderson, spokesman for the Casa Grande Police Department.
Names of the victims were not released, but all appear to be adults, he said.
Thomas said a man who “we believe is our suspect” is in police custody. Officers who were driving by the area saw someone running as the report of gunshots came in. Those officers followed the person while others responded to the residence, he said.
Police think only one person was the shooter, though they still are investigating. They have recovered “some weapons,” though they have not yet verified if one or more were involved in the shooting.
“A lot of investigating is going on at this time. We’re going to be very busy,” Anderson said.
Two schools in the area were on lockdown, which was lifted about 10:30 a.m.
Mindy Edwards has lived in the area for about six months with her husband, a longer-time resident. The area surrounding the scene of the shooting was is a hotbed for criminal activity, namely drugs, she said.
Heightened police patrols in the neighborhood were helping to deter that, Edwards said.
“It’s really been cleaned up,” she said. Dawn Schroeder has lived in the neighborhood since 2001. She said hers was generally a decent section of town, with the occasional drug bust or police foot chase.
But there was nothing that rose to the level of Thursday’s shooting. The close-to-home incident heightened her anxiety in the aftermath of Sunday’s mass shooting in Las Vegas.
“We were planning on going to the state fair tomorrow. But since Sunday…” she said, her voice trailing off. “… No place to hide. No place to run. We want to go and causally walk around and then watch racing. It’s not worth it. It’s not worth it anymore.”