On an April morning in 2015, a dispute between roommates in a Glendale, Arizona condominium ended in the tragic death of 25-year-old John Mengel. Authorities were summoned to the residence around 8:45 a.m. by a 911 call reporting a shooting. Upon their arrival, they discovered Mengel with a gunshot wound. Paramedics from the Glendale Fire Department pronounced him dead at the scene.
The man suspected of the shooting, Justice Wolfgang Burkhart, who was 22 years old at the time, had
initially fled the scene on foot. However, he was later driven back to the condominium by a friend and was taken into custody by police. Investigators learned that Mengel had recently moved out of the condo he shared with Burkhart.
The fatal encounter occurred when Mengel returned to the residence to retrieve some of his belongings. An argument broke out between the two men, which escalated to the point of the fatal shooting. Burkhart was subsequently arrested and faced a charge of first-degree murder.
