Posted on 01/23/2015 2:26:13 PM PST by Drew68
MESA, Ariz. -- An employee at a QuikTrip convenience store was shot and killed early Thursday morning, according to police.
The QT is located at Stapley Drive and Broadway Road.
The shooting was followed by a high-speed chase for about 25 miles from Mesa to southwest Phoenix as police tried to capture the shooting suspect. They said a witness had flagged them down at the QT.
Apolinar Altamirano, 29, of Mesa, was taken into custody at 19th Avenue and Buckeye Road. He faces charges including first-degree murder, armed robbery, burglary, possession of a weapon by a prohibited possessor and unlawful flight. His bond was set at $1 million.
Police said Altamirano shot the clerk because he didn't think he was getting his cigarettes fast enough.
Altamirano reportedly dumped change on the counter, and the clerk told Altamirano he needed a moment to count the money.
"As the clerk is saying that, our suspect produces a handgun," said Mesa Police Det. Steve Berry. "The clerk, obviously seeing the handgun, does grab a package of cigarettes and hands them directly to the suspect, at which point the suspect just shoots our victim."
Friends identified the clerk as 21-year-old Grant Ronnebeck.
"He was a really good friend to all of us," said Samantha Hansen. "He had such a big heart, I mean, he made people laugh."
Ronnebeck graduated from Mesa High School in 2011 and was a "people person" who got along with everyone. He was in the drama and spirit clubs in high school and had worked for QuikTrip for the last five years.
Friends said he had recently transferred to this QuikTrip from another store and was concerned about working in this neighborhood late at night.
"It's hard to see and to know that it's actually, it's real. ... He's really taken from us and that's hard," Hansen said. "For a couple packs of cigarettes? I mean, it's not right."
Police said Altamirano has a criminal record, including an arrest in 2012 for theft and burglary charges.
Apolinar Altamirano, a known illegal alien who was given probation for a 2012 burglary.
Yet another of OBAMA’S NON-DEPORTED ILLEGAL ALIENS.
Resist mightily ANY Amnesty that McConnel/Boehner try to foist on us.
Of course.
Altamirano is an illegal.
There’s more detail over at the AZ Central site but it is a Gannet publication and off limits for posting here.
Evil POS.
I'm sure he was "DREAM-ing" of going to college.
An Obama dreamer?
Dear God, just look at that man’s face...
That is truly the stuff of nightmares.
Kill the fker.
wait... an illegal was arrested committing a crime, and then RELEASED on PROBATION?
why the fsck wasn’t he deported??!?
Grant Ronneneck’s death, among others, is on 0bama
2) Altamirano was removed from the same store on Jan 9 for trespassing
3) served with an harassment injunction on Jan 19
4) is convicted felon-prohibits gun possession
5) arrested Aug 2012 and Jan 2013, plea deal for second-degree burglary to have theft and kidnapping charges dropped. 2 years probation.
Yep. Cold blooded. He wasn't even robbing the place. Shot a good kid over a pack of cigarettes that he had the money to pay for. Murdered him over nothing.
He won't get deported now. He'll grown old and die in an Arizona prison.
I'm sure Ronneneck's friends and family are asking the same questions. I hope somebody has answers but I'm not holding my breath that these answers will be good ones.
Definitely votes democrat.
I suspect in this case, it’s the needle for him. Though, as with other states, Arizona needs to have the firing squad as an alternative means of execution. Fast, cheap, hard to appeal as to means, requiring no hard to get materials, nor special expertise for the trigger men.
Arizona executed 1 in 2014, and 2 in 2013, the reason being that in 2012 they executed 6, and in 2011, they executed 4.
There are currently 123 inmates on death row in Arizona, clearly demonstrating that this process needs to be expedited.
The description of the crime is monstrous.
His is the face I would expect to see attached to such an awful event.
Monsters are among us.
I live in Mesa, AZ and that is a rough corner. Haven’t driven by there in a while (it’s a huge, spread-out city), but that’s a prime pickup spot for day laborers. Always a lot of shady characters lurking around the convenience stores; some for “honest” work, others for who knows what. RIP to Mr. Ronnebeck
All the clerks/cashiers in those kinds of joints ought to have a few double-barreled shotguns mounted just under the countertop, pointed out, foot-activated.
You get a slob like this guy or the sainted Michael Ferguson want to come in and raise Hell-—you send them there.
Killing a defenseless guy, a guy brave enough to take this cruddy job just to make a dime...appalling.
May Grant’s soul and those of all of the faithful departed rest in peace.
And may Perpetual Light shine upon them.
Prayers up for this young man and for his family.
Of course he is illegal but according to some half-assed federal judge in Arizona, he MUST be given a drivers’ license (to aid his ability to kill and flee in a car).
Something is wrong in Arizona. Time to clean up the courts at all levels.
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