A man waiting at a bus stop and another victim outside a Phoenix strip mall were gunned down just weeks apart in what police say was a random shooting spree carried out by a suspect riding an e-bike.
Adalberto Pablo Cordova Torres, 21, has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of Andreas Samuel Olguin, 29, and Marcus Adams, 45, according to the Phoenix Police Department.
He also faces a charge of discharging a firearm at a residence. Police say ballistic and surveillance evidence link him to three separate shootings over 18 days last month.
Investigators allege the violence began on November 11, when a homeowner near 1st Drive and Greenway Parkway awoke to find their house riddled with bullets. Officers responding around 2 a.m. recovered 10 spent shell casings in the street. No one was injured.
Nearly two weeks later, around 3 a.m. on November 24, police were called to a shooting outside a strip mall near 19th Avenue and Greenway Road. Adams was found with multiple gunshot wounds and pronounced dead at the scene.
Surveillance video reportedly showed a suspect approaching Adams before gunfire erupted. Fourteen shell casings were recovered, and an autopsy later determined Adams had been shot nine times.
Less than a week after that, Olguin was killed at a bus stop near 19th Avenue and Thunderbird Road.
Police say officers responded shortly before 2 a.m. on November 29 and found Olguin dead from multiple gunshot wounds. Investigators recovered 15 shell casings, and the medical examiner determined Olguin was shot 11 times.
“Never in a million years would I think my son would just be sitting at a bus stop and somebody just would walk up to him and unleash the wrath for no reason,” Olguin’s mother, Toni Perez, told KSAZ.
Perez said detectives told her the suspect did not know her son and that the shootings appeared to be random.
“That’s where I’m furious,” she added. “Nobody deserves this. I’m going to seek justice for my son and for Marcus. He deserves it, too.”
Phoenix police say surveillance footage from the shooting of Olguin showed a person on an electric bicycle stopping near the bus stop moments before the gunfire. In both shootings, the suspect fled on an e-bike south on 19th Avenue, past Cactus Road.
The shell casings from all three scenes were entered into the National Integrated Ballistic Information Network and determined that all 39 recovered 9mm shell casings were fired from the same gun.
“Once the ballistic evidence from the three cases was fully processed, a correlation between the cases was found and all three cases were linked through this ballistic evidence,” the department said in the release. “Case agents of all three cases began to work together in an attempt to identify the suspect.”
Detectives also reviewed surveillance video from the surrounding areas and identified distinctive clothing, including a camouflage backpack. Police say cell phone data placed the same phone near each crime scene at the time of the shootings. The phone was allegedly registered to Cordova Torres, who lived just south of 19th Avenue and Cactus Road.
Police also determined that the same cellphone was near all three scenes around the time of the crimes, which was reportedly registered to Cordova Torres. Investigators found that he lived just south of 19th Avenue and Cactus Road.
Further investigation led detectives to body-camera footage from November 10 showing a Phoenix police officer speaking with Cordova Torres at a nearby park. According to court documents, he was riding an e-bike and wearing a backpack consistent with what appeared in surveillance footage.
Investigators learned Cordova Torres worked nights at a business near 7th Street and Bell Road. Management allegedly confirmed he was working until around midnight on the dates of both murders.
Cordova Torres is being held in the Maricopa County jail on a $3 million bond and is due back in court on December 11. Police have not identified a motive and say it remains unclear whether Cordova Torres knew either victim.
Families and friends gathered Saturday night for a candlelight vigil at the bus stop where Olguin was killed, honoring his life with photos, flowers and candles.
Olguin’s mother wrote in a GoFundMe, created to help cover funeral and burial expenses, that her son had a love for cars, camping and the bond he shared with friends and family.
“Despite the challenges he faced, he was always smiling, no matter what he was going through,” she wrote. “He had a big heart, and everyone who met him loved him.”
