On Saturday, August 26, 2017 around 9:00 p.m. a shooting occurred in the parking lot of the Laguna Village Apartments located at 286 West Palomino Drive. A witness reported gunshots and a red sedan flee the scene. A body was observed lying in the parking lot.
When first responders arrived on-scene they located a 20-year-old male with multiple gunshot wounds. He was transported to a local hospital and pronounced deceased. Meanwhile, Chandler’s dispatch center broadcasted information regarding a red sedan to neighboring law enforcement agencies.
Officers from the Mesa Police Department contacted two occupants of a red Toyota sedan in the vicinity of Alma School Road and Baseline Road in Mesa. Inside they discovered an unknown aged female with multiple gunshot wounds. She was pronounced deceased at the scene. The vehicle operator, a 20-year-old male, was transported to a local hospital with life-threatening injuries.
Detectives worked throughout the night and into the following day. During this time, a fourth individual, 23-year-old Taron Lavelle Watkins, was confirmed to be involved in the incident and identified as the possible shooter. On August 27, 2017 at approximately 3:00PM, Watkins was arrested in Scottsdale.
Watkins, a Glendale resident, was booked into the Maricopa County jail on two counts of 2nd Degree Murder, one count of Attempted Murder, and one count of Prohibited Possessor. Detectives have not yet identified the female victim and are in the process of notifying next-of-kin for the male victim.