On December 6, 2022, just before 12:30pm, Mesa Police Officers responded to Lamb’s Shoe Repair, located at 28 S. Macdonald for reports of the shop owner being dead inside the business. The caller was a customer who arrived at the shop and after not seeing anyone around, started to search the business. The customer found 58-year-old Jesus Fabian De La Rosa (Fabian) lying on the ground with gunshot wounds to his body.
Officers began looking at the call history for police response to see if Fabian had any problems with anyone recently. They found that Fabian made a police report on December 1, 2022, regarding a stolen firearm. Fabian reported that his .380 caliber handgun had been stolen. Fabian told officers that he allowed a homeless man to use the restroom in his business from time to time and he thought he may have stolen the gun.
Family members advised officers that Fabian wore a gun in a holster to work that day. When Fabian was found, he still wore the gun holster, but there was no gun inside. Officers located fired cartridges at the scene that match both the calibers of the stolen gun and the gun Fabian had been wearing.
Family also told officers that Fabian always had his cell phone with him. The cell phone was missing from the store.
Witnesses told officers a man wearing unique clothing had been in the area. After viewing the light rail surveillance video, officers found the described man getting off and on the light rail at Country Club Dr. and Main St. before and after the murder. The man was wearing a helmet that covered his face and had a walking cane when he first got off the light rail. This man did not have a cane when he got back on; however, officers located the cane inside Lamb’s Shoe Repair during their investigation.
Officers requested cell phone data from Fabian’s cell phone and traced the phone from Mesa to Phoenix, the same route the described man took on the light rail. The phone was powered off the night of the murder close to the Central Arizona Shelter Services (CASS) in Phoenix.
On December 9, 2022, at 5:30pm, Officers located and arrested 65-year-old Lynell Brosier at CASS. He had Fabian’s stolen .380 caliber handgun in his waistband.
Brosier was booked into jail for the following charges:
ARS 13-1105A1; 1st Degree Murder, a class 1 felony
ARS 13-1904A1; Armed Robbery, a class 2 felony
ARS 13-3102A4; Misconduct Involving Weapons (Prohibited Possessor), a class 4 felony
ARS 13-1802A1; Theft of a Firearm, a class 6 felony
ARS 13-1802A5; Possession of Stolen Property, a class 1 misdemeanor