Serial Shooter

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards.
Please discuss this issue on the talk page or replace this tag with a more specific message.
This article has been tagged since December 2006.

The Serial Shooter refers to what authorities now believe to be two men who committed multiple drive-by shootings targeting random pedestrians. The shootings occurred in Phoenix, Arizona, between May of 2005 and August of 2006. Investigators believe the Serial Shooter(s) were responsible for six murders and at least 29 other shootings in the Phoenix area (some reports put the number as high as 38 incidents).^[1]

1 Crimes
2 Modus Operandi
3 Capture
4 Suspects
5 References
6 External links

[edit] Crimes

The Serial Shooters' most recent crime occurred July 30, 2006 in Mesa. According to police, Robin Blasnek, 22, was shot and killed at approximately 11:15 p.m. while walking from her parents' house to her boyfriend's house. On August 3, Phoenix police released a statement linking Blasnek's murder to the Serial Shooter, citing forensic evidence and other similarities to the Serial Shooters' past crimes. Prior to that, they shot dogs, horses, cyclists and pedestrians. Phoenix police originally believed that the Serial Shooter was a single individual responsible for 4 murders and 25 shootings beginning in May of 2005, and that a series of 13 shootings in the same area were the work of another offender. However, on July 11, 2006, investigators revealed that they believed the two series of shootings were related. ^[2]

[edit] Modus Operandi

The Serial Shooter attacked from a vehicle without warning. The offender targeted victims who walked, biked or were otherwise alone outside, usually between 10 p.m. and 4 a.m. Victims appear to have been targeted randomly.

[edit] Capture

According to reports, police first identified Dale Hausner and Samuel Dieteman as suspects on July 31, 2006, through tips received from the community. On August 3, 2006, police arrested both suspects outside of their apartment in Mesa, Arizona, a suburb of Phoenix.

On the morning of August 4, 2006, Phoenix police announced two arrests had been made in connection with the Serial Shooter. ^[3] The suspects have been identified as Dale S. Hausner and Samuel John Dieteman. Authorities said they have also linked Hausner and Dieteman to two arson fires at Wal-Mart stores on June 8, started 45 minutes apart from each other that caused approximately $7 to $10 million in damage. ^[4]

[edit] Suspects

Dale S. Hausner, 33, had worked as a custodian at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport since 1999 as well as a boxing photojournalist for RingSports.^[5]

Samuel John Dieteman, 31, had a history of petty crimes such as shoplifting and drunk driving and had returned to Arizona a few years prior from Minnesota.^[6]