Phoenix homicide suspect arrested near U.S.-Mexico border after Buckeye Road shooting

PHOENIX — Two suspects were arrested in San Diego County on Oct. 30, two days after a shooting near 16th Avenue and Buckeye Road killed one man and wounded another, Phoenix police said. Police said Stevie Nelson, 29, is expected to be extradited to Arizona and booked on suspicion of second-degree murder.

Officers responded shortly after 6:30 p.m. on Oct. 28 and found Ricktavon Oshea Thompson, 26, in a business parking lot with multiple gunshot wounds. Phoenix Fire Department crews took him to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead. A second man left before officers arrived and later went to a hospital with a gunshot wound that police described as non-life-threatening.

Detectives said Thompson and Nelson were fighting when a woman police later identified as Amela Batlak, 32, allegedly assaulted Thompson. During the altercation, a shot was fired and the second man was struck. Police said that man walked away and Thompson also began to leave. Detectives allege Nelson then shot Thompson multiple times before leaving with Batlak in a sedan.

License plate reader data helped identify suspects

Phoenix police said information captured by a license plate reader, along with other evidence, helped detectives identify Nelson and Batlak. After investigators learned on Oct. 30 that Batlak was traveling toward California, they sought help from the San Diego Police Department’s Special Investigations Unit.

San Diego investigators located both suspects that evening in a rental vehicle about one mile from the U.S.-Mexico border. Both were booked into the San Diego County Jail. Phoenix police did not specify whether Batlak faces charges.

Phoenix Police Department