Suspects Arrested in Arizona Shootings

Phoenix police have announced that two men have been arrested as suspects in the string of serial shootings in the Phoenix area for more than a year. The shootings have killed 6 people and wounded 17. Most of the victims were riding bicycles or walking alone late at night or early in the morning.

Phoenix police Sgt. Any Hill said that a search warrant was served at Windscape, a gated apartment complex in Mesa in the wee hours of Friday morning. Officers took two white men into custody and towed a silver car to the Mesa Police Department’s headquarters, where it will be impounded and searched for evidence. The entire apartment complex was under lockdown with local and federal law enforcement officials at each entrance.

The suspects have been identified as Dale Hausner, 33, and Samuel Dieteman, 30. Police said they became aware of the suspects on Monday through information from the public and extensive follow-up by investigators, who believe the men may be the shooter and an accomplice who drove the car.

Media outlets in Phoenix showed footage of officers carrying several firearms out of the apartment complex, and police hauled Dumpsters from the complex to a Mesa police site.

The shootings began in May 2005, with the most recent being last Sunday night. Robin Blasnek, 22, was killed while walking to her boyfriend’s house in Mesa. Now, with the arrest of these two suspects, a lot of people in Phoenix are breathing a cautious sigh of relief. "I hope they got him," said Caroll Roberts, whose 19-year old son was shot in the torso last month and required four hours of surgery. "I want to shoot him in the stomach to see how he’d like it, like he did my son."

Police are still searching for clues to the identity of a second serial predator in Phoenix. The so-called Baseline killer is accused of sexually assaulting 11 women, as well as murdering 7 women and one man during the past year.