New Mesa shooting rampage report: How SWAT took down suspect

A Mesa police SWAT team used the element of surprise to arrest shooting-spree suspect Ryan Giroux, bringing the deadly rampage to an end without shooting him to death.

Giroux is accused of shooting five people, one fatally, in west Mesa on the morning of March 18.

He was distracted while standing on the second-story balcony of a condominium, where he watched an officer on the ground who had a gun trained on him, according to a police report released Wednesday in response to a public-records request.

At least five SWAT team members went up the stairs leading to the condo. They found the door ajar, evidence that someone had broken in. With Giroux looking in the opposite direction, they fired a stun gun at him, according to the report.

Giroux collapsed against a sliding-glass door that led to the balcony, but as officers attempted to handcuff him, he regained his strength and started struggling, refusing to put his arm behind his body, the report said.

Officers at that point punched Giroux in the back, and another put his foot between Giroux's shoulder blades, pushing him face-first against the ground, according to the report. Eventually, officers subdued, handcuffed and arrested Giroux. A grand jury has since indicted Giroux in the March 18 attacks, charging him with 23 counts, including first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, aggravated assault and kidnapping.

Detective Steve Flores, a Mesa police spokesman, said the blows delivered by officers were a typical response when a suspect refuses to put his arm behind his back to be handcuffed. He said a free arm would potentially give a suspect an opportunity to assault an officer.

Although Giroux had a bloody face in booking photos, it was a less-lethal response than if the officer who had the suspect at gunpoint had followed Giroux's advice, the report said.

"The male subject matched the description of the male suspect we were looking for," one SWAT team member wrote in his report. "The male subject did not currently have anything in his hands, but he was telling Officer Gribble to 'Go ahead and kill him now.' "

Police were applauded by some residents at a recent community meeting and by a leader in the NAACP's East Valley branch for showing restraint in not taking Giroux's life.

The police report, which represents only part of the investigation, also includes how Veronica Ehrig, the girlfriend of victim David Williams, and Lydia Nielson, his mother, witnessed the fatal shooting.

Williams, 29, was not in his room at the Tri-City Inn when Giroux first came looking for him and Nielson, 50, answered the door. But Williams eventually returned and was immediately confronted by a gunman whom police said they would soon identify as Giroux.

Nielson recounted to police how the gunman asked Williams "if he had his money." When Williams apparently failed to hand over the money, Nielson said the gunman reached around her and fatally shot her son.

Police served a search warrant on the room where Williams was slain. The report said they found $72, knives, drugs, laptops, cellphones and "two plastic baggies with a white crystal substance," along with a black scale with residue on it.

Flores said the amount of drugs was so small that police believe they were for personal use, and police do not think the room was being used for drug dealing, in part, because of the small amount of cash on hand.

Ehrig, who had been in the laundry room at first, described to police how she saw Nielson talking to a White man, and she went to the apartment and asked Nielson if she was OK. Although Nielson said she was fine, Ehrig believed her demeanor told a different story, records show.

At Nielson's request, Ehrig went to another room to get her a cup of coffee. When she returned, she heard the White man tell Williams, "Give it to me," in a calm voice. She said Williams responded with "What?"

When Williams reached for something on a table just inside the doorway, Ehrig said, the White man pulled out a handgun and shot Williams in either the head or neck. Ehrig told police that the gunman turned the gun on Nielson next.

Nielson was shot in both legs and told police it happened as she ran to her son's aid, according to the report.

Police knew within 10 to 20 minutes of responding to the slaying that Giroux was the probable suspect, the report said. Officers learned that a man matching the suspect's description had been staying next door, at the Rawls Motel. Police contacted the motel's management, who gave them Giroux's name, Flores said.

Soon, police had a photograph of Giroux, obtained from state Motor Vehicle Division records. The report shows that witnesses also provided mostly accurate descriptions of Giroux, with many of them remembering his distinctive tattoos. He later was positively identified by some witnesses from photo lineups, the report said.