In the early morning darkness of Monday, October 24, 2016, neighbors in a west Phoenix neighborhood near 31st Avenue and Pierce Street were startled awake by the sound of a violent crash outside their homes. When they looked out, they saw a car that had slammed into a fence or block wall in front of a residence. Police and fire crews were dispatched at about 4:38 a.m. and found a black passenger vehicle heavily damaged against the barrier at 3100 W. Pierce Street. Inside were two occupants who were unresponsive. They were later identified as 17-year-old Manuel D. Sanchez a male Hispanic / Latino from Phoenix, Arizona, and 20-year-old Ronnie Bustate Orozco.
First responders discovered that the crash alone did not explain the victims' condition. Both Manuel and the older man in the car appeared to have been shot; Phoenix fire officials reported that they had suffered multiple gunshot wounds and were pronounced dead at the scene despite emergency efforts. The vehicle had come to rest against a residential wall or fence, and the impact, combined with the gunfire, turned a normally quiet residential block into an active crime scene sealed off by police tape for hours that morning. At least one weapon was recovered from inside the vehicle, adding to the mystery of what had happened before the crash that drew the attention of nearby residents.
Detectives quickly treated the incident as a double homicide rather than a traffic collision. Investigators canvassed the area around West Pierce Street, looking for witnesses and surveillance footage that might show where the car had come from or who else might have been involved. Authorities publicly emphasized that, based on what they knew at the time, the killings did not appear to be connected to the then-unresolved “Serial Street Shooter” cases that had heightened anxiety in the Phoenix area that year, suggesting this was a separate, targeted event. A Silent Witness bulletin created for the case summarized the sequence of events: residents heard a loud crash, called police, and officers found the car against a fence with both occupants shot to death.
Over time, public records and crime-tracking sites have continued to list Manuel's death as the result of gun violence on that date in Phoenix, referencing the original news coverage and law-enforcement bulletins. Online memorial pages dedicated to him show that friends, family, and community members have lit hundreds of virtual candles and left comments describing him in affectionate terms, underscoring the personal loss behind the brief police summaries and case numbers.
As for suspects and arrests, available public information indicates that investigators have never publicly identified a suspect or announced any arrests in connection with the shooting that killed Manuel and the man who was with him in the car. Silent Witness flyers and case listings describe the suspect or suspects simply as “unknown” and note that investigators are still seeking information about what led to the crash and gunfire. Crime-tracking databases and case write-ups echo that status, stating that while Phoenix police identified the victims, they had not identified any suspects and that a reward of up to $1,000 was offered for information leading to an arrest or indictment. Years later, forum posts and case updates still refer to the killings as unsolved, reflecting that, based on publicly available sources, no one has yet been held accountable for the homicide of Manuel D. Sanchez.
