Phoenix police booked Sherman Murphy after John David Lee was found fatally shot near 19th and Maryland

A jail booking and a bond are custody. They are not a finding about who fired, and they are not a conviction. Phoenix police say officers were called just after midnight Saturday, Oct. 3, 2026, to a shooting and a vehicle crash near 19th and Maryland avenues and found John David Lee, 58, dead of a gunshot wound inside a vehicle. Witness accounts led them to a nearby apartment, where they took Sherman Murphy, 41, into custody. FOX 10 Phoenix reported he was facing second-degree murder and a felony probation violation, with bond set at $1 million. azfamily and ABC15 Arizona described one count of second-degree homicide. Detectives have not publicly described a relationship or a motive.

azfamily, ABC15 Arizona, and FOX 10 Phoenix, citing the Phoenix Police Department, reported that officers went to the area of 19th and Maryland avenues just after midnight on Oct. 3 after calls about a shooting and a vehicle crash. FOX 10 placed the scene in the 1800 block of West Maryland Avenue and reported that Lee had been shot before the vehicle crashed into a garage. Officers found him dead inside the vehicle with a gunshot wound. FOX 10 attributed its account to Phoenix Police Department public information sergeant Chris Berrelleza. azfamily reported that the relationship between Murphy and Lee has not been described, and that detectives are still investigating what led to the shooting.

ABC15 Arizona reported that officers spoke with witnesses and determined the suspected shooter had fled into a nearby apartment. FOX 10 Phoenix reported that investigators said the person fled on foot into the Estates on Maryland Apartments, that officers located a specific unit, and that they took Murphy into custody there. FOX 10 reported he was facing one count of second-degree murder and one felony count of violating his probation, and that a judge set bond at $1 million on Saturday. azfamily and ABC15 Arizona reported that he was booked on one count of second-degree homicide. Those are two descriptions of the booking. They are not a verdict, and the accounts do not say a prosecutor has proved either count.

A booking, a witness account of where someone fled, and a bond figure are the start of a case. They do not prove who fired, why the vehicle crashed, or what the probation count is based on. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.