Suspect in Phoenix killing arrested in Tennessee

by Salvador Rodriguez and Stephanie Russo - Sept. 2, 2010 08:24 AM

A man suspected of killing a 39-year-old woman in Phoenix in October was arrested in Livingston, Tenn., on Wednesday, a Livingston Police Department spokesman said Thursday morning.

The man, Aaron Schmidt, 28, is suspected of opening fire on the woman and her friend last October in what Phoenix police called a possible hate crime. Police believe Schmidt has been in Livingston since June.

The woman was shot dead. Her friend, Jeffrey Wellmaker, 48, told police he and the woman were walking in Palma Park, on 12th Street and Dunlap Avenue around 1:30 a.m. Oct. 3 when a heavily tattooed, bald White man confronted them.

Wellmaker, who is Black, said the tattooed man yelled, “What are you doing with that White woman,” according to Phoenix Police at the time of the shooting.

The friends, who are homeless, didn’t respond and kept walking. Investigators don’t know why the couple was in the park.

The tattooed man followed the pair for a couple blocks, police had said. By the time the couple reached Fourth Street and Puget Avenue, Wellmaker saw a white four-door newer model sedan with tinted windows drive past them.

In the passenger seat was the tattooed man. That’s when Wellmaker said the passenger pulled out a shotgun and shot two blasts at the couple, according to police. One struck the woman and the second blast missed them.

Police stopped short of calling the shooting a hate crime, but also said it could assume it was racially motivated.

http://www.azcentral.com/community/phoenix/articles/2010/09/02/20100902phoenix-homicide-arrested-tennessee-abrk.html#ixzz0yOK7SFNK

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