PHOENIX — Two suspects have been arrested on suspicion of being involved in the death of a 19-year-old man who was found wounded outside of a Valley Waffle House restaurant earlier this month.
Leon Greer sustained a fatal gunshot wound to his head on New Year's Day after he was riding in a vehicle that was struck with gunfire.
Officers located the young man in the backseat of a car parked outside of a Waffle House near University Drive and Elwood Street. He was pronounced deceased a short time later and another wounded passenger was taken to the hospital.
Gary Green, 35, and Randale Thomas, 30, were arrested Thursday for their alleged involvement in Greer's death.
Investigators reviewed the suspects' Facebook records and found messages where the two allegedly discussed the Waffle House incident, court records show.
A search of their residence turned up a gun with the same caliber as the shell casings recovered from the New Year's Day shooting.
Greer's murder was allegedly done in retaliation for previous crimes involving the suspects' associates, records show. Both suspects have been booked into the Maricopa County jail.
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How big is Maricopa County?
Maricopa County is the United States’ 4th largest county in terms of population with 4,485,414 people, according to the 2020 Census.
The county contains around 63% of Arizona’s population and is 9,224 square miles. That makes the county larger than seven U.S. states (Rhode Island, Delaware, Connecticut, Hawaii, New Jersey, Massachusetts and New Hampshire).
One of the largest park systems in the nation is also located in Maricopa County. The county has an estimated 120,000 acres of open space parks that includes hundreds of miles of trails, nature centers and campgrounds.
The county’s seat is located in Phoenix, which is also the state capital and the census-designated 5th most populous city in the United States.
