A Phoenix man arrested on suspicion of fatally shooting a one-year-old boy in the head and injuring six others when he opened fire into a crowd of families at a food truck event in Mesa in October is set to be arraigned Tuesday on 39 felonies, including first-degree murder.
Larry Tyrone Miller will appear at Maricopa County Superior Court on charges stemming from the Oct. 16 killing of Sebastian Duran, along with injuries suffered by two of his older siblings, three adults, and a fourth child. The fourth child, a nine-year-old girl, spent more than one month in the hospital after being shot through a main artery.
Miller, 30, has been indicted by a county grand jury for first-degree murder, drive-by shooting, assisting a street gang, weapons misconduct by a prohibited possessor, disorderly conduct with a weapon, six counts of aggravated assault, and 28 counts of felony endangerment. He is being held in the Maricopa County jail on a no-bond order.
Witnesses reported seeing a boxy, white or silver SUV stop in the roadway and open fire toward dozens of people who were attending a community food truck event along Dobson and Guadalupe Roads. The vehicle then fled the area as multiple emergency responders descended on the scene.
On Oct. 21, detectives impounded a light-colored Kia Soul from a south Phoenix apartment complex. The next day Miller was taken into custody for a probation violation on a 2010 armed robbery conviction but a criminal complaint was not filed against him in connection to the shooting until Nov. 30.
Court records show the complaint was replaced by a Dec. 3 county grand jury indictment. Investigators also obtained information about an altercation between a man and woman near the food trucks a few hours before the shooting. The man was confronted by people in the area before he and the woman left.
The earlier incident is related to the mass shooting, but most of the court file has been sealed at the request of the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office. It is unclear whether Miller was the man involved in the earlier argument, or if a motive has been determined for the shooting. It’s also unknown whether investigators believe Miller acted alone.
According to the Arizona Department of Corrections, Miller was sentenced to 10.5 years in state prison for two separate 2010 armed robbery offenses out of Maricopa County. He was discharged from custody in May 2019, at which time he began a term of supervised probation.
Two men, Diante Lamar McCarty and Devon Manning, were also convicted in both armed robbery cases, while Jason Bryant Braker was convicted for one. Court records show Manning was the subject of a petition to revoke probation one week after the Mesa shootings.
The other children injured in the shooting are Citlaly Duran (6), Edgar Duran (16), and Roselyn Ramirez (9). Ramirez remained hospitalized for nearly five weeks.
The three adults who were injured are Sally Holderbach, Chrystal Madrid, and Mario Torres. Social media postings show Holderbach was shot in the foot, while Madrid had to have part of her colon and spleen removed after being hit by three bullets. No information was available about Torres’ injuries.