An exchange of gunfire outside a Circle K in Sierra Vista in early October took place after a fight broke out when a man urinated near some members of the Nomaden Motorcycle Club, according to documents obtained by Arizona Daily Independent.
No one was injured during the Oct. 3 shooting, but one stray bullet went into a nearby occupied apartment while another hit the exterior of a second apartment. Several vehicles were also damaged in the shooting, which left .40 caliber and .45 caliber casings strewn in the Circle K parking lot and down an adjacent residential street.
Sierra Vista police officers with assistance from special agents with U.S. Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) as well as tactical teams from the Cochise County Sheriff’s Office executed three search warrants afterward, which led to the arrests of two local residents.
One of those arrested was Jared Clark Brown, who is identified in court documents as a Nomad. He posted a cash bail on Oct. 11 to secure his release from the Cochise County jail pending trial next year.
Brown, 35, will be arraigned Nov. 1 on 10 felonies such as discharge of a firearm at an occupied structure, possession of a narcotic drug for sale, multiple counts of aggravated assault and endangerment, and disorderly conduct. A trial date may be set at that time. ,
Meanwhile, Edwardo Antonio Roman Jr. remains in pretrial custody after he too was indicted on 10 felonies, including drive-by shooting, aggravated assault, and four counts of endangerment for recklessly placing four people at “substantial risk of imminent death.” He was arraigned Oct. 25 and has a speedy trial deadline of March 24, 2022.
Court records show officers with the Sierra Vista Police Department responded to the Circle K on North Garden shortly before 2 a.m. for a reported shooting in progress between two groups. The parties were gone when officers arrived, but detectives had the benefit of several witnesses as well as Circle K’s security video, according to a report by Det. Thomas Ransford.
That video shows two motorcycles parked in front of the store– a male rider and female passenger stood outside while the other male rider went inside. A gold-colored, four-door Hyundai driven by Roman, 23, then pulled into the parking lot and two Hispanic males exited the vehicle.
As the passenger went into the store, Roman went to the side of the building to urinate. At some point he was confronted by one of the motorcyclists. Witnesses broke up the fight before the two men got in the Hyundai and pulled out of the parking lot, heading eastbound.
Roman would later tell investigators he did not know who rode in the car with him to the Circle K.
“When confronted about not knowing the other individual, where he picked that individual up at or where he dropped the individual off, Roman became defensive and stated he didn’t remember,” Ransford wrote in his report.
The second man from the Hyundai has not yet been identified as of Oct. 31. But investigators do have good images of the man from Circle K’s security camera, according to Ransford.
Several gunshots were fired from the area where the Hyundai drove away back toward the motorcycles still at the Circle K. Multiple .40 caliber cartridge casings were found in the roadway where the Hyundai had traveled, the detective noted.
There was also bullet damage to the exterior of the Circle K building and the security camera captured the moment when “parts from the motorcycle break off during the exchange of gunfire,” the report notes. At least one .40 caliber bullet struck a vehicle one block south of the Circle K.
But the shooting was not one-sided. Ransford noted that detectives found several .45 caliber cartridge casings in the Circle K parking lot which “appeared to be fired from the group of the motorcycles.”
One .45 caliber bullet went through an occupied apartment north of the Circle K, while another struck the outside of a different occupied apartment. Numerous parked vehicles north of the Circle K were also damaged by bullets before the motorcyclists left the scene.
Identifying the motorcyclists did not take long, according to Ransford’s report, because the Circle K’s security cameras provided a clear view of the license plates. One of those motorcycles was registered to Brown at a local address.
“Officers attempted to contact Brown at the residence and identified several motorcycles at the residence,” Ransford noted, adding that Brown was not home. A Sierra Vista officer contacted Rowan by phone instead. When the officer asked Brown if he and his wife were OK, “the individual responded, ‘I’m alive,’” Ransford noted.
Finding the Hyundai also was made easy by the security video which showed distinctive details about the vehicle. It was located the evening of Oct. 3 at the Sierra Vista home of one of Roman’s relatives. The vehicle’s passenger side was covered by a blue tarp.
The next afternoon, officers executed a search warrant at the property where the Hyundai was parked. The vehicle had extensive gunshot damage to the passenger side doors and windows as well as the front windshield. A .40 caliber Smith & Wesson firearm was also seized during the search.
About the same time, other officers executed a search warrant at Brown’s residence where a .45 caliber handgun was seized along with “numerous other weapons” as well as ammunition and weapon paraphernalia.
But the search at Brown’s home also found turned up something unexpected. Two scales and a large quantity of cocaine packaged into small baggies was seized from a dresser in Brown’s bedroom. The cocaine weighed out at more than 62 grams, well about the 9 gram threshold which triggers a charge of possession with intent to sell.
A third search warrant executed that afternoon involved the residence of Charles Heath, a corporate officer of the Nomaden Motorcycle Club and registered owner of the second motorcycle at the Circle K during the shooting. A .45 caliber handgun was seized there along with a shotgun and Psilocybin mushrooms. No charges have been filed at this time against Heath.
Anyone with information about the man riding in Roman’s Hyundai is asked to contact Ransford at 520-452-7500.
