This archive report was first published on 10 October 2019.
On September 12, 2019, a 33-year-old photographer was taking landscape photos of a lake at Encanto Park in Phoenix when he was approached by three teenagers.
The teens, who were later identified as 18-year-olds Ricardo Sanchez Mendoza and Angel Ortega Romero, and a 17-year-old juvenile, asked the photographer to take their photo and, after a short conversation, he agreed to do it for free.
However, things took a turn when the photographer asked the teens to stop using a racial slur directed at blacks, which caused the teens to start arguing with him.
According to court documents, Romero went behind the photographer and shot him multiple times, and the 17-year-old continued shooting the photographer after he fell to the ground.
The photographer suffered nine gunshot wounds and was still recovering from his wounds at the time of the article's publication on October 10, 2019.
Police say the photographer was also found to be in possession of a handgun at the time he was shot, but the gun did not have a round in the chamber.
The three teens fled the scene and left the victim's camera and cellphones behind, and the photographer had recorded the incident on a Facebook Live video, which was later watched by detectives to verify his story.
On September 17, 2019, Mendoza was arrested in Phoenix for suspected involvement in the incident, and on September 25, Romero was arrested and found to be in possession of a stolen.45 caliber handgun, bullets, and Maricopa County Sheriff's Office handcuffs.
The 17-year-old was identified as a member of a gang while housed at the county's Adobe Mountain juvenile facility, and faces charges in juvenile court on suspicion of one count of aggravated assault, one count of assisting a criminal street gang, and two counts of misconduct involving weapons.
