Cop Shop

Mesa police found Manuel Barrientos with a stab wound to his upper chest at 9:58 p.m. Sunday after they responded to a call at an apartment complex at 260 W. Eight Ave. Witnesses said a roommate, Leonardo Galicia Cuevas, stabbed Barrientos. Galicia fled before police arrived. When police searched the area, they found Galicia hiding under a vehicle in a parking lot He was taken into custody and booked on domestic violence charges of aggravated assault. Barrientos was treated at a hospital for non-life threatening injuries and released.

At 2:07 p.m. Sunday, Mesa police responded to a home in the 2400 block of east Boston
Street after receiving a report that it was a possible drop house. Police found 36 people in the house, five suspected of being human smugglers, or “coyotes.” Police also found one unloaded handgun in the house and one person had $,3000 in cash. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) responded to assist with the investigation.

Westbound lanes are closed on Broadway at Recker roads in Mesa due to a leaking 30-inch water transmission main that was first reported Sunday. Vehicles must turn north or south on 64th Street.  Eastbound traffic on Broadway is not affected. Additionally, vehicles will not be permitted to travel southbound on Recker south of Main Street.
City staff  members have completed an initial assessment of the leak and anticipate that westbound Broadway will remain closed for several days. Commuters should choose an alternate route to avoid traffic delays and detours.

A Mesa barn full of hay that was engulfed in flames early Saturday has been left to burn out over the weekend by fire crews, officials say.

Fire spokesman Mike Dunn said his crews would watch carefully over the large barn, measuring about 100 feet by 50 feet, so the flames would not spread to other areas.  The emergency call for the blaze was made at 2:30 a.m. by an employee of the dairy farm in the area of 3232 S. Hawes Road, just south of Guadalupe Road on Hawes Road, Dunn said.

Dunn said the fire department would let the fire burn itself out because hay fires are difficult to fully extinguish and that the closest fire hydrant was located over 2,000 feet away.

He recommends that people in the area with respiratory problems should stay inside their homes or limit their outdoor activities due to the smoke in the air.  Dunn expects fire crews to fully extinguish the flames by Monday.

Nicole Murphy died Monday after hitting hear head on a water slide at Golfland Sunsplash water park in Mesa. She went to the park’s first aid station at about 10 a.m. complaining of nausea and memory loss after hitting her head, according to Mesa Police Department officials.

Murphy, 19, of Mesa, was taken to Scottsdale Healthcare Osborn hospital and treated for a blood clot in her brain. Officials said she told a nurse that she hit her head on a slide in the park at 155 W. Hampton Ave. She died later Monday.

Mesa police were notified of her death about 10:30 p.m. Monday. The Maricopa Medical Examiner ruled she died of complications from an accidental blunt force trauma to the head.

According to a Mesa police spokesman, it is unknown which slide Murphy rode.

Golfland Sunsplash spokesman Dave Johnson said in a statement that park management doesn’t know which, if any, attractions Murphy rode.  An investigation is ongoing, he said.

Sunsplash waterpark and all its attractions will remain open, Johnson said. 

A man was robbed at gunpoint at about 8 p.m. Thursday in his garage in the 4100 block of Aspen Avenue in Mesa. Police say a black man, 6 feet tall with a thin build and Afro style haircut, asked the victim for money. When the victim refused, the man took out a gun and demanded money.  The victim threw his wallet at the man, who left after taking an undisclosed amount of money and leaving the wallet. Police said the robber wore a black baseball cap, black vest, white shirt and black basketball style shoes.

Brent Clark received a 2 1/2-year prison sentence Thursday after pleading guilty to aggravated assault and kidnapping a classmate at knife point.
Clark, 15, told authorities he held a knife to the throat of a fellow Powell Junior High School student on March 22, 2007, in Mesa and stopped short of killing her, court records show.
The next day, Clark told his parents he planned to hold students at his school hostage and that he had a backpack with a handgun, rope and duct tape inside.
Clark entered a guilty plea May 8 before Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Teresa Sanders. He will have to serve up to seven years intensive probation after his release.