City mum on alleged Maricopa Meadows murder

A teenager is believed to have died following an early morning fight in Maricopa Meadows on Monday, but any information from city officials that could verify what took place has not yet been made publicly available.

The city of Maricopa has not returned numerous phone calls between Monday and Tuesday or an email sent early Monday requesting information to verify whether a fight took place Monday in Maricopa Meadows involving the alleged fatal stabbing of a teenage boy.

Mark Boys, division chief of Maricopa Fire, said about 10 a.m. Tuesday that he was unaware of the incident, but would look into it after an economic development meeting which was about to begin.

Voices in the background could be heard saying they did not know that the victim died, when Boys asked quickly if anyone in the room had any information on the matter. He said he would not be able to look into it further for at least a couple of hours, and suggested contacting Sergeant Stephen Judd, the spokesman for Maricopa Police.

Judd has failed to return multiple phone calls left on his voicemail with the city and on his cell phone for the past two days. He has also not responded to an email seeking information.

Jennifer Grentz, the city’s spokeswoman, said early Monday she was not familiar with the incident, either. She could not be immediately reached this morning for comment.

Residents of the Maricopa Meadows neighborhood, however, have been actively posting information on inmaricopa.com’s reader forum. According to the anonymous posts, and at least one phone call from an adult who only identified himself as John, two helicopters landed in the area at about 3 a.m. Monday to airlift stabbing victims to Maricopa County Hospital in Phoenix.

A request for information from the hospital spokesman is pending regarding the status of the patients, including whether anyone died.

More information will be posted as city reports and statements become available.

FROM THE FORUM:
At approximately 3AM this morning, a group of African American and Latino teenagers broke out in a fight in the northwest area of Maricopa Meadows. Knives were involved and a number of the teenagers were stabbed and cut. one of the teenagers was critically injured with lacerations by a machete and had to be airlifted out of Maricopa to Maricopa County Hospital. The other stabbings were not as serious, as I understand it.

As a homeowner and father of young children, there is nothing worse than being awaken by police lights and helicopters in your own neighborhood. This isn’t the first time I’ve seen this stuff in my neighborhood.

The teenagers involved were all drinking. Why are these kids roaming around the streets in the middle of the night? Where are the parents? What is the police department doing about these kids? I’ve pretty much had it with all the disturbances in my area.