An 18-year-old Arizona man faces two counts of first-degree murder after he allegedly gunned down his pregnant 16-year-old girlfriend and fled the scene, leaving two other young women critically wounded outside a Buckeye home.
Michael Sanchez was arrested hours after the Thursday evening shooting that killed Rylee Montgomery and her unborn baby, the Buckeye Police Department said. Officers tracked Sanchez roughly 18 miles away to a home in Avondale, where he was cuffed and booked on multiple charges.
Montgomery's stepmother, Amy, told local outlet AZ Family that Sanchez had terrorized the girl for months, demanding she terminate her pregnancy, choking her, and threatening her life. The family says they tried to intervene. They say the system did not.
The Buckeye Police Department said the shooting took place around 8:15 p.m. Thursday outside a residence in Buckeye. Montgomery and two friends, a 17-year-old girl who was also pregnant and a 22-year-old woman, were present when Sanchez allegedly opened fire.
Montgomery and her unborn child died at the scene. The two surviving victims were rushed to a local hospital in critical condition.
Details from a GoFundMe page written by Amy paint a grim picture of the survivors' injuries. One friend was reportedly shot at least three times. The pregnant 17-year-old was struck in the back, nearly bled out, and was forced to deliver her baby boy prematurely at just 25 weeks.
Sanchez fled after the shooting but did not get far. Police tracked him to the Avondale residence, where he was taken into custody. He was booked on multiple charges, including the two murder counts, one for Montgomery and one for her unborn child, the New York Post reported.
Amy's account of the months leading up to the shooting describes a relationship that turned dangerous fast. She alleged that Sanchez was initially "very sweet and nice" to Montgomery, until the girl became pregnant in February.
Amy told AZ Family:
"He started off very sweet and nice to her. Once he got her pregnant in February, it was all over. After telling her to 'kill the baby,' and when she refused, he turned his anger on her, threatening her numerous times. He even went so far to choke her at our house."
Montgomery allegedly broke up with Sanchez in March. But the threats did not stop. Amy attributed a specific statement to Sanchez: "I'm going to get you."
The family says Montgomery was frightened. Amy told AZ Family that the girl reported at least one incident to police. But authorities allegedly told Montgomery there was not enough evidence to file charges, a claim attributed to Amy and not independently confirmed by any law enforcement statement in the available reporting.
That gap, between a young girl's reported cry for help and the system's response, is the kind of failure that haunts communities long after the crime tape comes down. It is a pattern familiar to anyone who follows domestic violence cases that end in homicide.
Court records obtained by AZ Family reveal that Sanchez was not an unknown figure to the justice system. He had been placed on felony probation and ordered to wear a monitoring device in March, the same month Montgomery broke up with him, in connection with a DUI.
He was reportedly still wearing that ankle monitor on the night of the shooting.
That fact alone demands scrutiny. An 18-year-old on felony probation, fitted with a court-ordered tracking device, allegedly carried out a fatal shooting while under active supervision. The monitoring device apparently did nothing to prevent the attack. Whether probation officers or the court were aware of the alleged threats against Montgomery remains unclear.
The case raises hard questions about how effectively the justice system tracks individuals who pose an escalating risk. It is far from the only recent incident in which someone under legal supervision allegedly committed a violent act. Across the country, cases involving suspects with prior criminal records continue to shake public confidence in supervision and enforcement.
Amy's grief is raw. On the GoFundMe page set up for the family, she described Montgomery as a victim of a controlling relationship.
"Our sweet girl fell victim to a controlling boy."
In her interview with AZ Family, Amy did not mince words about the toll.
"It's like somebody ripped my freaking heart out. She was so scared of him, and we tried to get her help."
Montgomery was 16 years old. She was pregnant. She had tried to leave. Her family says she asked for help from the people whose job it is to provide it. And now she and her baby are dead.
The two surviving victims remain in critical condition. The premature baby boy, delivered at 25 weeks after his mother was shot in the back, faces an uncertain road. No names have been released for the 17-year-old or the 22-year-old.
Sanchez is reportedly due back in court next week. Beyond the two first-degree murder charges, the full list of charges he faces has not been publicly detailed. The Buckeye Police Department has not released a direct statement beyond the initial facts of the shooting, the arrest, and the charges.
Several questions remain unanswered. Which agency or officers handled Montgomery's earlier report of threats? What steps, if any, were taken after that report? Did Sanchez's probation officer know about the alleged domestic violence? And how did an 18-year-old on felony probation with an ankle monitor obtain a firearm?
These are not rhetorical questions. They are the questions that prosecutors, defense attorneys, and a court will need to address. They are also the questions that Montgomery's family, and the families of the two surviving victims, deserve answers to.
Arizona has seen its share of cases that shake a community. Stories of young people caught in dangerous circumstances, whether through disappearances that go unsolved for decades or violence that erupts in quiet neighborhoods, remind residents that safety depends on systems that actually work.
A 16-year-old girl told someone she was scared. Her family says she went to the police. She broke off the relationship. She did what people tell victims to do.
And the man who allegedly threatened to kill her, who was already wearing a court-ordered ankle monitor for a separate felony, allegedly showed up and shot her dead, along with her unborn child, while two of her friends stood nearby.
If the system cannot protect a pregnant teenager from a known, monitored threat, the system is not working. Accountability starts with asking why, and not accepting silence as an answer.
