PHOENIX — An argument over a paycheck and missing property resulted in one Valley man shooting and killing another man, police said.
Dariusz Swiader, 47, was found dead with two gunshot wounds to his head near 43rd Avenue and McDowell Road Wednesday afternoon.
Officers arrested David Gordon, 51, in their investigation of the murder.
“For $700, it's ridiculous,” Stacy Swiader said. “That was the value of the items he had to return in order to get his $2,000 paycheck.”
Stacy said her husband owned DSS Transport LLC, a trucking business. Gordon had been driving for them for months, but Dariusz Swiader was planning to let him go.
“It was just like a buildup of things he wasn’t following, directions and protocols of the company,” she said.
After a recent trip, Gordon allegedly didn’t return their semi-truck. When they finally got a hold of it, items were missing, Stacy said.
On Wednesday things were to be sorted out. Instead, Dariusz was shot.
“It was about 7:30 p.m. When I got down there, they talked to me and they informed me that he was shot and killed,” Stacy said.
Anniversary uncelebrated
Stacy and Dariusz were going to celebrate their seventh anniversary on Nov. 11.
Instead of planning a celebration of their love, she is forced to get ready for his funeral and add her husband's urn next to those of her parents who died last year, and of her 16-year-son who died in 2014.
"He was just a kind man, who did not deserve this at all," she said. "And I don't know why this happened."
The family has set up a GoFundMe account to help with funeral expenses.
What police say happened
Phoenix police officers responded to the scene around 2 p.m. following a call from a man, later identified to be Gordon, who claimed he had shot his boss.
Gordon was immediately taken into custody.
Court records said security footage from a nearby business showed Dariusz arriving at the apartment complex, getting out of his vehicle, and putting items on the hood.
After a brief conversation, Dariusz got back into the driver’s seat of his truck. Gordon grabbed the items from the hood and followed Dariusz to the driver's side.
That’s when Gordon allegedly is seen on video reaching to his waistband and firing his handgun.
Dariusz appeared to hold his arm out in an attempt to close the driver’s door when he was shot multiple times, records show. The video did not “show any form of physical aggression” from Dariusz.
Gordon told police during the investigation that he had received a phone call from the victim saying he wanted to exchange property for his final paycheck, according to the report.
Gordon's son, who was in the apartment at the time of the incident, told officers that his father and the victim had been arguing within the last week over a paycheck.
Gordon came back into the apartment shortly after and told his son that he had shot his boss, police said.
Gordon told detectives he and Dariusz had begun arguing over alleged damages to the semi-truck Gordon was driving for the victim's company. Gordon told the police that Dariusz "yelled out a threat that he was going to kill" him during the argument and was "fearful for his safety," the report said.
Gordon was booked on 2nd-degree murder and possession of a firearm by a prohibited person.
He has prior felony convictions from 2000 and 2008 for drug-related offenses and served time in jail.
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