Globe Police Chief Dale Walters addresses the media during a press conference Tuesday. Walters said the suspect in the Globe bar shooting, Sterling Randall Hunt, has been charged with first-degree murder.
By Jon Johnson
GLOBE – The man who killed two people and injured two others in a shooting Sunday night at the Jammerz bar in Globe has been charged with first-degree murder.
Sterling Randall Hunt, 22, was charged Tuesday in the deaths of Cristi Licano, 44, and Daniel Albo, 22, both of Globe. Hunt was also charged with attempted first-degree murder for shooting and injuring Ashley Sanchez and Charlene Peak, both 22. Additionally, Hunt was given a third attempted first-degree murder charge for shooting at Scott Mills, who was not hit and managed to escape injury-free.
According to Globe Police Chief Dale Walters said Sanchez is still in critical condition at a Phoenix hospital, while Peak is listed as being in stable condition. Both Sanchez and Peak were airlifted to Phoenix hospitals the night of the shooting.
Globe Police officers were initially dispatched at about 10:29 p.m. to Jammerz at 598 N. Broad St. regarding the shooting.
Walters said Hunt was shooting pool with Sanchez, Peak, and Albo and at some point during the night, Sanchez, Peak, and Albo went to the back patio to smoke cigarettes. Hunt allegedly went to the front and retrieved a 9-mm Glock semi-automatic handgun. He then returned to the back patio and shot Peak, Albo, and Sanchez. Afterward, Hunt left through the west side and encountered Licano and Mills and shot at both of them, killing Licano but missing Mills.
“It’s been a long couple of days,” Walters said. “This is a hard thing for the entire community. This hits home close to all of us because it’s our community . . . It doesn’t matter if it’s here or someplace else in the country, this has a lasting impact and effect on everybody involved. The men and women (who) had to go into that bar and see the aftermath and then work tirelessly through it – some of these men and women worked 24 to 32 hours because we just don’t have the staffing that some of the other agencies do. And they did a phenomenal job. This has a traumatic impact on all of us. We want to make sure that justice is served and that our community is able to recover from this.”
Hunt was later found at a hospital on the San Carlos Apache Indian Reservation visiting a friend. As of Tuesday afternoon, Hunt – who is a Navajo tribal member – was still in the custody of the San Carlos Police Department but will be extradited to Globe after he is released, according to Walters.
While no motive has been determined, Walters stressed that it was an isolated incident and that it wasn’t a hate crime but was perpetrated by a resident of Globe who was “one of our own.”
“We have absolutely no reason to believe this incident involved a hate crime or that this was racially motivated in any way,” Walters said.
“The motive for this incident has not been identified and it may never fully be understood. We are pleading with everyone to allow law enforcement to handle this investigation to allow justice to be served without any further acts of violence or discrimination . . . Now it is time for healing. The victims of this horrendous incident have asked that we come together and unite against violence.”
Update: Ashley Sanchez died from her injuries Thursday, Nov. 15. Hunt will now be charged with three counts of first-degree murder.