Newly released surveillance video shows a Phoenix convenience store robber buying a bag of peanuts with a dollar bill, then drawing a gun, racking the slide, and shooting a female clerk twice as she backed away before firing a third shot into her as she lay on the floor. The footage, from the Mother's Day robbery on May 9, 2021, at 40th Street and Southern Avenue, was released as Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell announced that 34-year-old Trey Waters has been sentenced to 65 years in state prison.
Mitchell's office said the sentence follows Waters' conviction for a monthlong violent robbery spree across Phoenix in spring 2021 that left two victims wounded by gunfire, according to the Maricopa County Attorney's Office. The clerk survived her injuries despite being shot multiple times at close range inside the store. The video and case details were also reported by Arizona's Family, which aired the surveillance footage this week.
A Spree That Started With a Hotel Shooting
The violence didn't start at the convenience store. According to the county attorney's office, the spree began on April 12, 2021, when Waters forced entry into a hotel room near 51st Avenue and Interstate 10, shot a man in the neck, bound a woman's hands with duct tape, and fled with stolen cash. The male victim survived his injuries.
Less than two weeks later, on April 25, 2021, Waters pistol-whipped an ice cream truck vendor in the face near 24th Street and South Mountain Avenue before robbing him and pointing his firearm at two female bystanders, the county attorney's office said. That attack came weeks before the Mother's Day shooting that would ultimately lead investigators to identify him.
Detectives Closed In Within a Day
Detectives identified Waters within 24 hours of the May 9 shooting using surveillance video and witness statements, per the county attorney's office. Phoenix Police's Special Assignment Unit arrested him the next day, May 10, 2021, catching him outside another convenience store just as he was about to enter, still carrying the same handgun used in the earlier shootings. KTAR News reported that specialized tactical officers apprehended Waters near Central and Sunland avenues after cross-referencing video footage from multiple robbery locations, and that the arrest occurred without officers needing to fire their weapons.
A search of Waters' vehicle after his arrest turned up a stolen passport belonging to one of the hotel robbery victims, along with the shirt he wore during the May 9 shooting, the county attorney's office said. That physical evidence was later introduced at trial to corroborate witness testimony tying Waters to each crime scene.
Initial Charges and Trial Outcome
Following his May 2021 arrest, Phoenix Police originally booked Waters on 10 felony charges, including one count of attempted murder, five counts of aggravated assault, three counts of armed robbery with a deadly weapon, and one count of kidnapping, according to reporting from that time by AP News. He was initially held on $100,000 bail.
The case eventually went to trial, where Deputy County Attorney Bryn Barasha prosecuted Waters. The state called 27 witnesses and introduced nearly 200 physical and documentary exhibits to secure guilty verdicts across all counts, the county attorney's office said. A jury returned guilty verdicts on Class 2 dangerous felonies, including first-degree burglary and armed robbery.
How the 65-Year Sentence Adds Up
Under Arizona criminal statutes, armed robbery with a deadly weapon is a Class 2 dangerous felony carrying mandatory prison terms ranging from 7 to 28 years per count, depending on aggravating factors and criminal history, per reporting from Patch at the time of Waters' arrest. Arizona sentencing guidelines allow those terms to run consecutively when separate violent felonies involve separate victims, which is how the multiple counts against Waters combined into the 65-year total.
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