Phoenix police booked Spencer Vidal after a fatal parking-lot shooting near 39th and Grand

A license-plate reader can put a car at a time and a place. It does not decide who fired or what a jury would find. Phoenix police say Automated License Plate Reader technology identified the vehicle that left a strip-mall parking lot near 39th and Grand avenues after a verbal argument around 9:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 2, 2026, and that detectives arrested Spencer Vidal, 47, at his home. azfamily reported a second-degree murder booking. ABC15 Arizona described the count as second-degree homicide. FOX 10 Phoenix also reported a prohibited-possessor firearm count, a $1 million bond, and an Oct. 8 court date. The man who was killed has not been publicly named.

azfamily, ABC15 Arizona, and FOX 10 Phoenix, citing the Phoenix Police Department, reported that officers went to the area of 39th and Grand avenues around 9:30 p.m. on Oct. 2 after reports of a shooting. FOX 10 placed the call in the 3900 block of West Grand Avenue. Officers found a 34-year-old man in the commercial parking lot with multiple gunshot wounds. Phoenix firefighters pronounced him dead at the scene. Police said he and Vidal had a verbal argument before the shooting and that Vidal fled before officers arrived. FOX 10 reported that investigators say Vidal allegedly opened fire and drove away. The man's name has not been released. FOX 10 reported that authorities have not identified him pending family notification.

Detectives used Automated License Plate Reader technology to capture information about the fleeing vehicle, police said, and then arrested Vidal at his home. azfamily reported that Phoenix police booked him on one count of second-degree murder. ABC15 Arizona described that booking as one count of second-degree homicide. FOX 10 Phoenix reported that he was booked into the Maricopa County jail on one count of second-degree murder and one felony count of possessing a firearm by a prohibited person, that a judge set bond at $1 million Saturday night, and that he is due back in court on Oct. 8. The investigation is ongoing.

A booking, a plate-reader hit, and a bond are custody and process. They do not prove who fired, what the argument was about, or whether the State can prove a murder count or a firearm count. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.