Police arrest second suspect in slaying of 15-year-old in Buckeye
According to police, Valenzuela had been out with a group of people near St. Charles Court and 255th Drive, where a confrontation had taken place.
Buckeye police announced on Thursday that a second suspect was arrested in connection to the murder of 15-year-old Brendan Valenzuela.
According to the statement, Buckeye police served a search warrant at a Phoenix home alongside the U.S. Marshals Service and arrested 19-year-old Michael Michel. An unidentified 17-year-old was arrested in January, when the shooting happened.
Valenzuela died Jan. 22 after officers found him in the area of Crown King Road and 257th Drive suffering from a gunshot wound, later dying at the hospital that night.
According to police, Valenzuela had been out with a group of people near St. Charles Court and 255th Drive, where a confrontation had taken place.
Court documents state that Brendan’s brother, Montana Valenzuela, had told officers they had driven to a cul-de-sac to smoke blunts with two others they had met on Instagram weeks prior and had smoked with them before. Montana told officers that the group had been hanging out for over an hour and “described everything as being fine.”
According to court documents, the suspect who shot at them had been leaning in the passenger window, talking to them. The suspect took a step back, pointed a gun at them and said, “don’t move,” Montana told police.
Montana drove off, and as he did, saw the suspect begin shooting at them, striking the vehicle, court documents state. Montana drove him and his brother to their house, not realizing that Brendan had been shot, then proceeded to call 9-1-1, he told police.
Court documents show that Montana provided police with the Instagram handle of the suspect, who officers obtained a search warrant for.
Instagram messages obtained by police show that the suspect had been communicating with multiple other subjects, including an account owned by Michel.
A description of the two suspects provided by Montana fit the description of both the suspect and Michel.
According to court documents, Michel and the suspect had discussed a plan to rob Montana for more than a week.
In the messages, the two discuss the plan before getting together around 12:40 a.m. on the night of the shooting, which occurred sometime around 3 a.m.
At 3:37 a.m., the two begin talking again, with the suspect telling Michel that it was his fault. Michel then tells him that he needs to listen to him, saying he’s done it before.
The two then discuss a plan to reattempt the robbery on the next day.
According to court documents, numerous audio calls between the two took place following a media release put out in connection to the incident.
Eventually, Michel was located and placed under arrest, where he told officers that he had been at the scene the night of the shooting with the suspect. Michel states that neither of them had planned to shoot anyone and did not know why they did, court documents say.
A search of Michel’s residence produced three guns along with his cell phone, which were placed into evidence at the Buckeye police station.
Michel has since been booked into jail and is facing charges of one count of premeditated first-degree murder, armed robbery with a deadly weapon and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
No other information had been released.