Investigators say ballistics matched a single 9mm pistol to three north Phoenix shootings; a 21-year-old suspect is jailed on a $3 million bond.
PHOENIX, AZ — Phoenix police arrested a 21-year-old man this week they say is linked to two fatal shootings and an earlier drive-by in the same north Phoenix corridor, crimes that unfolded before dawn over an 18-day span and left residents rattled.
Detectives identified Adalberto Pablo Cordova Torres as the suspect after comparing shell casings and reviewing surveillance video from three scenes clustered along 19th Avenue and nearby cross streets, authorities said. He is being held on two counts of first-degree murder and one count of discharging a firearm at a residence. The cases remain under investigation, and police have not identified a motive. The killings — five days apart in late November — and a prior drive-by earlier that month focused attention on a strip of neighborhoods and retail centers in north Phoenix where the shootings occurred in the quiet hours before sunrise.
According to police and court filings, the first incident happened just before 2 a.m. on Nov. 11, when a homeowner near 1st Drive and Greenway Parkway awoke to find bullet holes in the house and 10 9mm shell casings in the street. No one was hurt. Thirteen days later, around 3 a.m. on Mon., Nov. 24, officers responded to a report of shots fired outside a strip mall near 19th Avenue and Greenway Road. They found 45-year-old Marcus Adams with multiple wounds; he died at the scene. Surveillance video from the area showed a person walking up to Adams shortly before gunfire. On Sat., Nov. 29, just before 2 a.m., police were called to a bus stop near 19th Avenue and Thunderbird Road, about a mile south. There, 29-year-old Andreas Olguin was found dead with multiple gunshot wounds.
Investigators say the Phoenix Police Department’s Crime Gun Intelligence Unit entered 39 recovered 9mm casings from the three scenes into the National Integrated Ballistic Information Network, which indicated they were fired from the same gun. Detectives canvassed nearby businesses and homes for video and focused on a figure seen riding an electric bicycle and carrying a distinctive camouflage backpack, heading south along 19th Avenue after both homicides. Cellphone location data placed the same device near all three scenes around the time of the shootings, police said, and records showed the number was registered to Cordova Torres. Body-camera footage from early Mon., Nov. 10 — the day before the drive-by — captured an officer speaking with Cordova Torres in a nearby park while he was on an e-bike and wearing a similar backpack, according to the filings.
Detectives also met with managers at a business near 7th Street and Bell Road where Cordova Torres worked. Employment records showed he had finished his shifts around midnight on the nights of the two killings, leaving a window of a few hours before each shooting, investigators wrote. On Thu., Dec. 4, officers conducting surveillance saw Cordova Torres leave his home near 19th Avenue and Cactus Road on an electric bicycle with a backpack. They stopped him and recovered a 9mm handgun and clothing that resembled items seen on video from the crime scenes, according to police. Preliminary test-firing linked the seized pistol to the casings entered in the federal database, investigators said. Cordova Torres allegedly told detectives he was the only person who used the phone and the e-bike and that the gun belonged to him. Police said it remains unknown whether he knew either victim.
The shootings were concentrated in and around the Sunnyslope area of north Phoenix, where apartment complexes, long-running strip malls and bus stops line 19th Avenue. Adams, 45, was shot nine times outside the center at 19th Avenue and Greenway Road, according to an autopsy cited in the filings. Olguin, 29, was struck 11 times as he sat at a bus stop by the strip mall at 19th Avenue and Thunderbird Road, roughly a mile south of the earlier homicide. Family members said Olguin had been experiencing homelessness. “For somebody to pull up to him, sitting at a bus stop, and unleash 11 rounds into my son’s body … I’m just shocked,” his mother, Toni Perez, said, adding that the family planned a vigil at the location.
Police booked Cordova Torres into the Maricopa County jail on a $3 million bond after the arrest. As of Friday, formal charging decisions remained with the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office. Court dates were not immediately available. Investigators said the probe is ongoing, with additional forensic analysis and interviews underway, and asked anyone with video from the corridor in mid to late November to contact detectives. Officials have not released any information about a possible motive, whether the victims were targeted, or whether additional suspects are being sought. The department has not announced any policy changes tied to patrols along 19th Avenue but said specialized units assisted throughout the case.
Neighbors described the pre-dawn gunfire as jarring in an area where early traffic mixes with overnight workers and riders waiting for the first morning buses. Storefronts near the Nov. 24 scene reopened by midmorning under police tape. At the Thunderbird Road bus stop, candles and flowers appeared this week as friends and relatives of Olguin gathered to remember him. Perez said her son was born premature and lived with health challenges but was “a fighter” who valued his independence. Some residents who live between Greenway and Cactus said they had noticed more patrol cars since the arrest, while others said they were still avoiding late-night walks until more answers emerge.
Police say Cordova Torres remains in custody as detectives finalize reports for prosecutors. The investigation continues into next week, with additional lab results expected and any initial court hearings to be scheduled by Maricopa County Superior Court. Family members of Olguin said a candlelight vigil was planned at the Thunderbird Road bus stop on Saturday. Authorities have not released funeral information for Adams. As of Saturday morning, no motive had been disclosed and no other arrests had been announced.
Author note: Last updated December 6, 2025.