PHOENIX – A 32-year-old man, Trey Waters, has been sentenced to 65 years in prison for a string of violent armed robberies in Phoenix in which two people were shot. Both victims survived.
According to the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office, on April 12, 2021, Waters forced his way into a hotel room near 51st Avenue and the I-10, where he shot a man in the neck, tied a woman’s hands together with duct tape, and then took off with their money.
About two weeks later, Waters robbed and beat a food vendor with a gun near 24th Street and South Mountain Avenue. During this incident, he also threatened and pointed the gun at two women.
Then, on May 9, 2021, Waters shot a clerk while trying to rob a convenience store located at 40th Street and Southern Avenue. Surveillance video showed Waters walking up to the counter with a bag of peanuts and handing the clerk a dollar. When the clerk opened the register, Waters threw a brown bag onto the counter, pulled out a gun, and racked the slide. He shot at the clerk twice as she tried to back away. As Waters ran out the door, he shot at the clerk a third time as she was lying on the floor. The clerk suffered multiple serious injuries from the gunshots.
Phoenix Police arrested Waters the next day after detectives used surveillance video, along with victim and witness statements, to identify him. Phoenix Police’s Special Assignment Unit caught him just as he was about to enter another convenience store with the same gun used in the previous shootings. After his arrest, police searched Waters’ car and found a passport stolen from one of the victims, and the same shirt the shooter wore at the convenience store.
During the trial, the prosecution team called 27 witnesses and presented nearly 200 exhibits as evidence.
A jury returned a guilty verdict on all counts:
“A guilty verdict on every count, followed by a sentence of this length, sends an unmistakable message that anyone who terrorizes innocent people with a gun will be held accountable,” said Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell. “This conviction was truly a team effort by MCAO prosecutors, Phoenix Police who stopped Waters before he could hurt anyone else, the brave witnesses who testified in court, and one of Waters’ own family members who helped identify him.”
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