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Second suspect in fatal Phoenix home invasion released from hospital into police custody

Phoenix police saw a vehicle speeding away from where the shooting was heard, and learned that two of the three people inside had been shot.

PHOENIX — A woman is dead and a man was left hospitalized after an attempted home burglary in Phoenix went astray, city police said. As of Oct. 17, that man was released from the hospital into police custody.

Officers were called to the area of Central and Southern avenues around 2:15 a.m. Monday after shots were heard nearby. While there, a police helicopter spotted a vehicle speeding away from the area.

When police pulled the vehicle over, they found that two of the three people in the car (a man and a woman) had been shot. The car's driver, 23-year-old Omar Rivas, was later taken into custody.

First responders took both of wounded passengers to the hospital where the woman later died. She's been identified as 19-year-old Mia Padilla.

The man, identified as 22-year-old Ricardo Mendoza Sanchez had non-life-threatening injuries, but spent some time in the hospital.

Officers later learned that there was a separate shooting that happened near 7th Street and Baseline Road as the vehicle was leaving the area.

Court records show a resident in that area told police that two armed strangers entered his home and pistol-whipped him in the face. The resident ran to the back of his house as the intruders chased after him. 

The resident retrieved a semiautomatic rifle and began firing at them as the strangers ran out of the house, court records show.

The resident told police he believed he had been set up by someone he had met near 27th Avenue and Indian School Road. After giving this person his address, they came over and then left about 45 minutes later. 

The individual allegedly texted the man they left something at his house. When they returned to retrieve the item, the two armed strangers entered the residence and then the "gun battle" ensued, records show.

Several shell casings were observed throughout the resident's property.

After he was questioned by police, the resident was released pending further investigation.

Rivas was booked into jail and is now facing several felony charges. Sanchez was released from the hospital and booked into jail, facing a possible first degree murder charge.

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