Mesa QT clerk killed over cigarettes

Jim Walsh | The Republic | azcentral.com

Show Caption Hide Caption Mesa Police investigate gas station murder Friends and family of the young man killed are in disbelief

Grant Ronnebeck was working the graveyard shift Thursday morning at a central Mesa convenience store when an angry customer approached the counter.

Ronnebeck's friends say the clerk was ill at ease at this particular QT, having been recently transferred from a store in what he thought was a safer area. Still, the 21-year-old was well accustomed to dealing with people in the wee hours — he'd been working in convenience stores since QT hired him at age 16.

The man dumped a handful of change on the store counter just before 4 a.m., demanded a pack of cigarettes and, when Ronnebeck tried to count the money, pointed a gun at the clerk's head, authorities said.

Ronnebeck handed over the cigarettes immediately, according to Mesa police, but it wasn't enough to save his life.

"The clerk says, 'I can't give you the cigarettes until I count the money,' " said Detective Steve Berry, a Mesa police spokesman. "At that point, the (man) shoots him anyway."

Police apprehended a suspect, identified as Apolinar Altamirano, 29, by 5:30 a.m. after a high-speed chase on surface streets and at least two Valley freeways.

Ronnebeck was pronounced dead shortly after the shooting.

"Grant had a big heart. He was loving and outgoing and full of life," Samantha Hansen, a friend of Ronnebeck's, said between tears. "It's unfair. To think it's over a couple of packs of cigarettes. It's not right."

Hansen held her 1-year-old son, Jackson, while standing outside the yellow police tape surrounding the store at about noon on Thursday.

Hansen and Ronnebeck were classmates at Mesa High School, where he took drama classes and painted his face purple — one of the school's colors — at Jackrabbits football games. They graduated in 2011.

She described Ronnebeck as a people person who made friends quickly and was "like a comedian."

"We are losing our funny friend," Hansen said.

"He didn't deserve it. It was such a shock."

A witness to the convenience-store shooting ran out into Stapley Drive, near Broadway Road, to flag down a police officer who happened to be driving by.

Police said they used a vehicle description provided by the witness to quickly locate a suspect in a nearby neighborhood.

But taking the man into custody proved far more difficult and dangerous. Police said Altamirano fled in a vehicle, triggering a high-speed chase on at least two Valley freeways that ended when an officer intentionally rammed the suspect's car, causing it to spin out in southwest Phoenix at 19th Avenue and Buckeye Road.

Altamirano was arrested on suspicion of first-degree murder, armed robbery, burglary, unlawful flight and misconduct involving weapons because he is a prohibited possessor. Court records show Altamirano initially was charged with burglary in 2012, pleaded guilty to an amended charge of facilitation to commit burglary and was placed on probation for two years. A court document said he was born in Mexico and was in the U.S. illegally. A judge had ordered notification of U.S. immigration officials.

Although police appreciate witnesses' help and were glad to make a quick arrest, the outcome is still tragic, Berry said.

"Unfortunately, someone took this life," he said. "Other than that, the best we can do is to get the suspect into custody quickly."