Gilbert teen describes double murder of mom, boyfriend on 911 call

A Gilbert teen took a deep breath, then calmly described to a police dispatcher how a man who lived in the house with her got angry when he was told to move out and then shot her boyfriend and her mother early Sunday.

On 911 calls released by police late Thursday afternoon, the dispatcher complimented the 17-year-old girl at least twice for keeping her nerves in check while describing the unusual double shooting in normally peaceful Gilbert to police. The girl also identified suspect Matthew Crain, who was shot by two officers about six hours later. He was stable and expected to survive.

Police identified the victims as Alex Tamborski, the girl's 17-year-old boyfriend, and Stacey Steward, 43, her mother.

"My roommate shot my mom and my boyfriend,'' the girl told the dispatcher, saying she could not answer the critical question of whether her mom was still breathing because she ran to a neighbor's house in fear for her life.

"We told him he had to move out" on Oct. 31, the teenager told the dispatcher.

At first, the dispatcher seemed to believe the family asked Crain, 35, to move out because he had argued with them in the past, but the girl corrected her.

"He wasn't paying us," the teenager said. "My mom was done with it.''

The teenager said past arguments with Crain were "not this bad, thankfully.''

The girl also described how Crain shot her mother in the chest in her bedroom at the home in the 900 block of East Windsor Drive, northeast of Ray and Lindsay roads. The teen did not describe her boyfriend's shooting on the call, but police said that she described how he was attempting to hide from Crain.

The dispatcher told the girl that police and firefighters were treating her mother and that police were confronting Crain. The call ended when officers knocked on the door to speak with the girl.

But it turned out that Crain had fled on foot, with the girl describing him armed with a black handgun with a brown handle. A second call released by police was from a neighbor who reported how she and her husband heard footsteps near their bedroom door.

The neighbor said she saw some bushes moving in the backyard of the house next door and that a police helicopter was hovering overhead. Gilbert police do not have a helicopter but often call Mesa police or the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office for assistance.

The dispatcher told the couple to stay inside. Police did not find Crain until about six hours later, walking near a canal close to Williams Field and Ashland Ranch roads.

Police said Crain made an obscene gesture, ran away, put his hands inside his shorts, and then turned around with his arm extended backward toward the officers. Two officers perceived a threat and started firing. They continued as Crain hid behind a gazebo and stopped shooting when he fell to the ground.

Lt. Hugh White, a Gilbert police spokesman, said on Wednesday that it appeared Crain was attempting to bait them into shooting him and that it may have been a "suicide by cop" attempt. He said police eventually hope to interview Crain, but the suspect was in a medically induced coma.

White said Crain was believed to be armed and dangerous and had made suicidal statements, but he was not armed when he was shot, prompting police to conduct a widespread search for the weapon. White said the handgun had not been located as of Wednesday.

Crain was sentenced in July 2013 on an amended charge of criminal trespassing and threatening and intimidating as a domestic-violence offense. He was just discharged from his three years of probation on Oct. 6, according to Maricopa County Superior Court records.

According to court records, Crain threatened to kill his former girlfriend. He admitted he had a problem with anger management and alcohol.