Micheal Anthony Soto (Maricopa County)
PHOENIX - A 19-year-old Phoenix man is behind bars after allegedly using shared phone location data to track down his date's boyfriend before pistol-whipping a victim and spraying a West Phoenix street with rifle fire.
What we know:
Micheal Anthony Soto was taken into custody by Phoenix Police Department Crime Gun Intelligence Unit detectives following a months-long investigation into the June 7 violent ambush. Soto now faces multiple felony charges, including aggravated assault, kidnapping and discharging a firearm at a non-residence, with a Maricopa County judge setting his bond at $50,000 on Thursday.
The backstory:
Court documents say the spree began after Soto forced a woman he had met on Instagram to hand over her phone passcode at gunpoint. The woman met Soto to blow off steam after arguing with her boyfriend, Michael Jara, in Avondale. After accessing her location-tracking apps to target Jara, Soto allegedly forced her to drive him to a neighborhood near 71st Drive and Warner Street, repeatedly punching and pistol-whipping her during the drive.
Once at the scene, investigators say a masked Soto approached a Ford Ranger carrying six people while armed with both a handgun fitted with a drum magazine and an assault rifle. Soto allegedly pistol-whipped a man sitting in the truck bed so violently that the drum magazine detached, scattering 40 live rounds into the vehicle. As the victims attempted to escape and the truck reversed away, Soto smashed the windshield and unleashed nearly ten rounds from his rifle down Sienna Vista Avenue as the victims fled on foot.
Dig deeper:
Detectives pieced the case together using license plate readers and neighborhood surveillance footage that caught the getaway car — a white Cadillac CTS missing its rear bumper. The driver,19-year-old Gladis Ayala — wjho was arrested in July — pointed officers to Soto and detailed how he threatened to kill her if she reported the crime. Undercover detectives arrested Soto outside his North 38th Avenue residence on Aug. 26, seizing cocaine from his pocket.
What they're saying:
Soto admitted to personal drug use but denied involvement in the shooting, police say. He is scheduled to appear before a judge again on Sept. 2.
What we don't know:
Although Ayala is scheduled for a December trial in Maricopa County Superior Court, authorities have not revealed the exact nature of the two charges she faces.
Map of where police say the shooting occurred:
The Source: Information in this report was gathered from Maricopa County Superior Court records.