The men accused of killing a pawn shop employee and a customer cased the store hours before and even spoke with the manager, according to an interim complaint filed in Pima County Superior Court.
David Maldonado, 44, and Amari Harris, 23, visited Quick Trip Pawn, at 1110 W. Prince Road, earlier on Friday, and Harris pawned an item there, the complaint says.
The pair then visited another pawn shop and came back to Quick Trip Pawn about 2 p.m., the complaint says. While Harris stayed outside in a rented 2008 Toyota Prius with mismatched wheels, Maldonado entered wearing a balaclava and fired a shot into the ceiling, the complaint says.
That gunshot unleashed a gunfight between Maldonado and pawn shop employee Anthony Tarli, with Tarli ending up wounded, the complaint says. A customer in the store, Francisco Vejar, took cover behind shelves, but when Maldonado was taking guns from a display case, he saw Vejar and shot him, the complaint says.
When firefighters arrived, Vejar was already dead, the complaint says. Tarli was taken to a hospital but died from his injuries.
When officers found Harris and Maldonado in Glendale later that day, Harris denied knowledge of a homicide “but knew about the guns,” the complaint says. “He advised that he was scared of David, who was acting like he was on drugs that day and had possibly stolen Amari’s gun,” the complaint says.
Maldonado had a duffle bag like one seen on security footage from the pawn shop, and the bag contained multiple guns, including “several” that were confirmed as coming from the robbery, the complaint says.
Maldonado is being held in the Pima County jail on a $2.5 million bond. Harris is being held on a $1 million bond.
