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Phoenix serial shooter: Documents reveal new details in deadliest attack

Posted at 5:24 PM, Aug 11, 2016
and last updated 2016-08-12 17:11:46-04

Documents released Thursday in the Phoenix serial shooter case reveal new details about the suspect's most deadly attack.

RELATED: Full coverage of Phoenix serial shootings

Angela Linner, Stephanie Ellis, and Ellis' daughter Maleah were gunned down on June 12 as they sat inside their car listening to music outside a home near 63rd Avenue and McDowell Road. 

She told police she saw a Hispanic man wearing a white shirt and red shorts as he stood beside a dark-colored sedan. The girl also said she saw two passengers sitting inside the suspect's car before the man fled.

Witnesses described hearing anywhere between five and 10 shots, but nobody saw any of the bullets actually being fired.

Police found shell casings inside the victim's vehicle, indicating the women were all shot at extremely close range.

According to the reports, police also found nearly $3,000 cash inside the victim's vehicle.

In all, seven people have been killed and two others wounded in nine attacks over a four-month period.

Police say the shootings are being carried out by a man who shoots victims from a car or briefly steps out to attack them at close range before driving away.

The suspect is believed to have used several vehicles, including as a late-1990s brown Nissan, a late-1990s black BMW and a white Cadillac or Lincoln.

Investigators have declined to reveal the evidence that led them to conclude the attacks are related and committed by the same killer. No motive has been established.

Ellis, 33, was hospitalized for her injuries and later died. Liner, 31, and Ellis' daughter Maleah died at the scene.

A witness told police that it wasn't unusual for them to sit in a parked car listening to music.

Authorities also released a police report on a shooting that targeted an unoccupied pickup truck just a half-hour before the triple killing and is believed to have been the work of the serial killer.

Investigators found bullet casings and recovered a bullet from a seat and bullet fragments from the engine compartment.