Man arrested after bus stop drug deal ends in 2 dead, 1 hurt, Phoenix police say

A 20-year-old man who was arrested in Phoenix faces multiple charges in connection to the killing of a man and a woman and seriously injuring another woman during a drug deal at a bus stop, police said Monday.

At about 3 a.m. on June 3, officers were in the parking lot of a QT near 29th Avenue and Bell Road in Phoenix when they heard multiple gunshots fired west of the intersection.

The officers went toward the sound of the gunfire and saw a man, later identified as 20-year-old Jermaine Smith, running southbound on 29th Avenue on the west side of the intersection. As officers approached him, police said, he threw a black 9 mm handgun into the rocks on the side of the road. He was detained and handcuffed.

Other patrol officers discovered three gunshot victims at a bus stop west of 29th Avenue. Two victims, identified as 65-year-old Jerry Carter and 55-year-old Jessica Velasquez, were pronounced dead at the scene.

A third victim was shot in the lower right leg and was taken to a hospital.

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Police said they found seven blue pills that resembled fentanyl on the ground near Carter and a bag of a clear crystal-like substance believed to be methamphetamine in Velasquez's hand. Multiple small yellow plastic bags were left on the road and on the sidewalk between the bus stop and where Smith was arrested, according to a police report.

Eight similar yellow plastic bags were found in Smith's pockets when he was arrested, police said. Each yellow bag contained 10 blue fentanyl pills, with 80 pills total found on him, police said. Smith also had another bag with a green leafy substance police believe was marijuana, according to a police report.

While police searched Smith, he told them, "That guy robbed me earlier."

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The woman who was hurt in the shooting said she saw Carter and Velasquez at the QT before the shooting and said Carter was looking for crack cocaine and Smith told him he was selling crack and blues, according to police.

When officers arrived at the QT, Carter, Velasquez and Smith moved to the bus stop to work on a deal for drugs, police said. The witness said Smith pulled out methamphetamine and Carter was upset because he was told he was buying crack, police said. Carter then convinced Smith to give them each several fentanyl pills, according to the police report.

Police said the witness said Smith gave them each multiple pills and then pulled out a black handgun and fired multiple times at the three people.

Smith told police officers that Carter wanted to take his property and had threatened to punch him, police said. Smith said he shot them out of self-defense and admitted to firing blindly in the direction of the bus stop, according to the police report.

Ten 9 mm casings were found on the road south of the bus stop and the black handgun was empty, police said.

Smith admitted to using marijuana, police said, and he claimed he had the 80 fentanyl pills in his pocket because he was thinking about using them again.

Smith was charged with multiple charges, including two counts of first-degree murder, one count of narcotic transportation and/or selling, and one count of serious physical injury.