An Arizona man has been found guilty of eight counts of murder for a series of deadly shootings in 2017. The victims included his own mother and stepfather, as well as other innocent people.
Cleophus Cooksey Jr., 43, now faces the possibility of the death penalty. He was also convicted of kidnapping, sexual assault, and armed robbery after a trial that lasted for months.
The crimes took place in Phoenix and Glendale. Victims included two men found dead in a parked car, a security guard killed while walking to his girlfriend’s apartment, and a woman who was kidnapped and sexually assaulted before her body was found in an alley.
Cooksey had a criminal record, having been released from prison just months before the killings after serving time for manslaughter. That conviction stemmed from a 2001 robbery where an accomplice was killed.
Family members of the victims expressed relief at the verdict, hoping that justice would be served. One woman whose mother was killed by Cooksey said that he took away her only support system. A friend of Cooksey’s mother said that he deserved the death penalty, calling him a “monster.”
The Maricopa County Attorney’s Office, which handled the prosecution, did not provide a comment on the verdict.
The case has brought up concerns about law and order in the Phoenix area and the importance of holding criminals accountable for their actions. Some worry about the impact of soft-on-crime policies that may have allowed Cooksey to be released from prison early, giving him the opportunity to commit these heinous acts.
