Detectives say the suspected shooter died during a police search hours after officers found the victim in an SUV in Maryvale.
PHOENIX, Ariz. — Phoenix police are investigating the fatal shooting of a 47-year-old woman found inside an SUV in the Maryvale neighborhood before dawn Thursday and the later death of her boyfriend, who officers say shot himself as a tactical unit served a search warrant.
The case widened quickly from a single homicide scene on a west Phoenix neighborhood street to a second death a few hours later at a nearby home. Police have identified the woman as Lori Ann Perez and named her boyfriend, Richard Benjamin Charles, 46, as the suspected shooter. But many of the central facts are still missing from the public record, including what led to the shooting, whether Perez was killed inside the vehicle or elsewhere, and what evidence pointed detectives from the SUV to Charles before he died.
Police said officers were called just before 2 a.m. Thursday to the area of 107th Avenue and Heatherbrae Drive, north of Indian School Road in west Phoenix. When they arrived, they found Perez inside a Nissan Rogue with at least one gunshot wound. She was pronounced dead at the scene. Detectives and crime scene investigators then moved onto the block, where patrol vehicles closed off part of the street and yellow tape marked the perimeter around the SUV. Through the early morning hours, investigators photographed the vehicle, worked around the curbside scene and began piecing together a timeline from the first emergency calls. Police have not said how many shots were fired, whether neighbors reported hearing an argument before the gunfire or how long the Rogue had been parked there before officers arrived. They also have not said whether Perez was seated in the front or rear of the SUV when officers found her, a detail that could help show whether the vehicle was the main crime scene or the place where her body was located after the shooting.
As detectives worked the scene, the investigation shifted toward Charles. Police said they developed information showing that Perez’s boyfriend might have been involved and that he lived nearby. Officers with the department’s Special Assignments Unit then went to his home later that morning to serve a search warrant. As officers entered, police said, Charles shot himself. He died at the scene before detectives could question him in custody. A department update posted before noon said, “The incident has been resolved,” and told residents there was no longer a threat to the community. Even with that announcement, key facts remained unsettled. Police did not describe what evidence connected Charles to the shooting before the warrant was served. Detectives have not said whether that information came from witness statements, surveillance video, phone data, prior contact between the couple or evidence recovered from the Rogue. They also have not said whether a gun was found in the SUV, at Charles’ home or at both locations.
The two scenes give the case a narrow public outline and a long list of unanswered questions. Police say Perez was found dead in the Nissan on Heatherbrae Drive and Charles later died at his home as officers moved in to search it. Beyond that, the department has released little about motive, movement or the final minutes before Perez was killed. Investigators have not said whether anyone else was with Perez before the shooting, whether Charles was seen leaving the area or whether officers believe the shooting was planned or happened during an argument. They also have not said whether neighbors’ doorbell cameras captured the vehicle, the suspect or the sound of gunfire. In a residential grid like Maryvale, where houses, side streets and parked cars can narrow sightlines, detectives often rely on a patchwork of private video, shell casings, phone records and witness memories built after sunrise. Television footage from local stations showed police SUVs parked at angles on the block, officers standing behind tape and investigators working around the dark-colored Rogue in daylight after the first overnight calls had passed.
Because the man police named as the suspect is dead, the case may move forward more as a completed homicide investigation than as a criminal prosecution. Detectives still have several steps ahead of them. They must compare evidence from the SUV and the home, review any surveillance footage from nearby houses, examine phones and digital records, and complete ballistic work that could show where the shots were fired and from what weapon. The Maricopa County medical examiner is also expected to determine the exact cause and manner of death for both Perez and Charles. Those findings could answer basic questions that remain open, including how many times Perez was shot and whether Charles died immediately when officers entered the home. As of Friday, police had not announced any additional arrests or charges. That leaves open only a narrow possibility that the case could expand again if detectives later conclude that another person helped arrange, carry out or cover up what happened. So far, police have not publicly suggested that anyone else was involved.
The setting itself adds to the force of the case. This was not a freeway shooting or a crime unfolding outside a busy commercial strip. Police found Perez on a neighborhood street lined with homes, sidewalks and streetlights, in a part of west Phoenix where residents waking up for work or school would have seen the tape and the patrol vehicles after sunrise. Hours later, the investigation had already stretched to a second address and a second death. For neighbors, the police message that there was no longer a threat answered the immediate safety question, but not the harder ones about how the shooting started and why Perez ended up dead inside the SUV. For detectives, the next stage is slower and quieter than the first rush to the scene. It centers on forensic reports, search warrant returns, digital evidence and a timeline that has to be built without the benefit of an interview from the man police say was responsible.
By Friday, the case stood as a homicide investigation focused on Perez’s death and Charles’ death during the search of his home. The next public milestone is likely to be a fuller police account or formal medical examiner findings that explain how the shooting unfolded and what evidence fixed the timeline.
Author note: Last updated April 10, 2026.
