GLENDALE, Ariz. - A Glendale man is facing two charges of first-degree murder after he allegedly shot and killed his girlfriend and her 4-year-old daughter. According to court documents, the man tried to tell officers it was someone else who broke in and shot them.
Court docs say a woman called police just before midnight on June 30 to report a double shooting and then handed the phone to Brandon Andres Bautista Torres, 24.
Torres told police his wife and daughter were shot and killed by an intruder three hours prior. Torres was driving back to the scene from his parents' house in Surprise.
Officers arrived at the home located near 59th Avenue and Bethany Home Road and found a 23-year-old woman and 4-year-old girl dead. The girl was not Torres' biological daughter and the 23-year-old was his girlfriend, not his wife.
Torres eventually arrived at the scene with his father and his 1-year-old son, who was also the son of the 23-year-old victim. Police asked Torres why it took him three hours to call 911 and he told officers it was because he was afraid the intruder, described as a homeless man, would come back with more people, court documents say.
Police learned Torres drove to his parents' house in Surprise to drop the 1-year-old off. His parents told police Torres seemed calm and said he was going to a movie with his girlfriend and the 4-year-old girl. Torres never mentioned the murders to his parents, court documents say.
According to court docs, a friend of Torres was told that a homeless man entering the home and ended up struggling for a gun with Torres. The 19-year-old and 4-year-old were shot in the struggle. Torres told his friend he tried to clean up the blood and he covered the victims with a sheet before leaving with his son.
The friend said Torres was afraid to call the police because he said they would just think he did it, court docs say. The friend also said Torres threw his gun out of his car window.
The parents of Torres said he came back to their home and told them about the deaths of the victims. The sister of Torres called 911.
According to court documents, Torres told police he drove to his parents' house and then a friend's house because he was scared of the police and said the police would think he did it because he was Hispanic. He told officers he had seen ICE raids before.
Police say Torres changed his story multiple times.
He was eventually charged for the premeditated first-degree murder of both victims.
