Police found Adrian Aguilar wounded nearby after prosecutors said he shot Amira Crofton 11 times.
TEMPE, Ariz. — A witness who saw a man firing into a car near Broadway Road and 48th Street helped lead police to a 2023 killing that ended with a life sentence for Adrian Aguilar.
The witness account became one of the clearest public details in the murder case against Aguilar, who was sentenced April 14 to life in prison plus 26 years. Prosecutors said the witness saw Aguilar standing outside his vehicle and firing multiple shots toward the passenger seat before walking away. Inside, police found 19-year-old Amira Crofton, Aguilar’s girlfriend, not moving after a 45-minute attack that had stretched across Tempe.
The scene near Broadway and 48th was not where prosecutors said the violence began. It was where the attack became visible to someone outside the car. Officers responding to the call found Aguilar close to the crime scene with a gunshot wound to his shoulder. He claimed that gang members had approached and fired at the vehicle. Prosecutors said the account fell apart when investigators compared it with witness statements and the physical evidence. Aguilar later admitted that he shot himself, according to the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office.
Authorities said Aguilar also admitted shooting Crofton because he believed she had disrespected him. County Attorney Rachel Mitchell said after sentencing that Crofton had trusted Aguilar and that he “repaid that trust with brutal violence.” Her office said the attack began after Aguilar saw a text message on Crofton’s phone from another man. Aguilar accused her of cheating and threatened to shoot her if she did not admit to a relationship with someone else. Crofton repeatedly denied the accusation.
The drive that followed moved through ordinary Tempe roads before ending in gunfire at the final scene. Public accounts identified South Rural Road and East Broadway Road as an early location where Aguilar shot Crofton in the leg. About a mile away, near Broadway and Roosevelt Street, prosecutors said he shot her again. He kept driving while demanding answers. Crofton cried and asked him to stop, according to the account released by prosecutors. She also asked to be taken home.
At some point before the final witness call, the car reached the area of 48th Street and Broadway. Court records described in local reports said Crofton tried to grab the gun and that the weapon discharged as the car crashed into a curb. Prosecutors said Aguilar then got out and fired more rounds into the passenger seat. The witness report gave police a direct account of that final burst of violence. Officials have not publicly named the witness or released a complete statement from that person.
Crofton suffered 11 gunshot wounds to her head, neck and torso, prosecutors said. She also had injuries to her face, head and hands. Those injuries became part of the state’s account of how long the attack continued and how Crofton struggled. The public summaries did not list every shot or every stop along the drive. They did show a pattern prosecutors repeated in court: Aguilar demanded an admission, Crofton denied cheating, and Aguilar used the gun again as the vehicle moved through the city.
The shooting happened in June 2023, after Aguilar and Crofton had been dating for about three months. Court records described in reporting said they left work together around 1 p.m. and later went to a pool party. Aguilar used alcohol and cocaine before leaving, according to those records. He was supposed to take Crofton home. Instead, prosecutors said, he saw the messages from a male friend and turned the drive into an interrogation. The friend’s texts asked Crofton to hang out, according to public accounts.
Aguilar’s first story to police described attackers outside the vehicle. Investigators found several inconsistencies. The witness had seen Aguilar firing, not outside attackers. The evidence did not support a random gang shooting. After further questioning and Miranda warnings, prosecutors said, Aguilar admitted the shooting. He said he believed Crofton had disrespected him. That admission gave prosecutors a motive statement, while the witness and physical evidence gave them a path from the final scene back through the earlier violence.
A Maricopa County jury convicted Aguilar in February of first-degree murder, kidnapping and two counts of aggravated assault. The kidnapping count reflected prosecutors’ claim that Crofton was trapped in the car while Aguilar drove and continued firing. The aggravated assault counts covered violent acts connected to the shooting. The sentence added 26 years to a life term. Prosecutors said the added time included 16 years for kidnapping and additional time for aggravated assault, with some terms running at the same time.
The public sentencing announcement did not include a victim impact statement from Crofton’s family. It did name prosecutors Shaylee Beasley and Katie Staab and credited them with the case. It also described Crofton as frightened and crying during the drive. Mitchell called Aguilar’s conduct “callous, calculated, and rooted in jealousy.” Officials said the case was no longer an open prosecution after sentencing, though any later appeal or post-conviction filing would be handled through the courts.
Aguilar is now serving a life sentence plus 26 years for Crofton’s murder. The witness call near Broadway Road and 48th Street remains the public turning point that brought police to the final scene and undercut Aguilar’s first explanation.
Author note: Last updated May 6, 2026.