A Mesa community is reeling after a fatal shooting at a bus stop early Tuesday morning left one woman dead and led to the swift arrest of a man now facing a first-degree murder charge. Fox 10 Phoenix reports that the incident occurred just after 7 a.m. near the intersection of Center Street and McKellips Road, where 52-year-old Michelle Flippin was found deceased at the scene.
According to AZFamily, witnesses observed the suspect, identified as 44-year-old Andrew Rada discharging a rifle in a parking lot before fleeing the scene in a dark red Ram truck which was later stopped by Mesa Police as it was merging onto Loop 202, the passenger was also detained but for a felony warrant unrelated to the shooting, in what became an impressive display of law enforcement's use of technology and rapid response.
Det. Richard Encinas of the Mesa Police highlighted the efficiency of the department's Real Time Crime Center in the quick location of the suspects. "We believe that we have both the people that we are looking for, and we are not looking for anybody else right now. We don’t feel like there is any other threat to the community going on at this time," Encinas said, in a statement obtained by AZFamily.
The chilling event has deeply affected locals, with a tire shop employee named Daniel telling azfamily.com that his immediate response to seeing Rada was self-preservation, "I noticed the person, crouched down in my car and accelerated a little and hid behind the garbage containers. Seeing him so close and thinking that he could have turned and shot at us as we were stopped there. So yeah, my reaction was to protect myself. At that moment, I heard five to six shots."
While initially, Rada claimed his victim had been brandishing a gun, the police investigation concluded that Flippin was not armed, as per AZFamily. The incident is labeled as isolated, and Rada is now booked into jail.
