When a man was shot to death in an apartment in Avondale last month, Avondale police did not proactively notify the public.

The death was not reported in a news release to the local media nor posted on the police social-media channels.

Sgt. Thomas Alt, a department spokesman, cited a dynamic investigation and a desire to protect sensitive case information in rejecting the idea that police should have provided basic details to the public about the Dec. 11 death of Jesus Real.

The man later accused of the killing, Cleophus Cooksey Jr., 35, was arrested six days later.

Five other people were slain before his arrest.

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Some local residents took to social media after Thursday’s announcement that investigators used ballistics testing, along with other evidence, to link Cooksey to at least nine deaths in Glendale, Phoenix and Avondale. 

Miles Bouchard has owned a home in Avondale for six years. He acknowledged the investigators might not have known exactly what happened, but he said it was “unacceptable” for police to keep the community “uninformed” for 38 days.

“What if someone had seen something suspicious or knew something but did not realize what fully happened? Or seen him at or near the location or even talked to him nearby? Have people on the lookout, more careful,” Bouchard told The Arizona Republic. “Maybe someone would have put two and two together and got him caught earlier.” 

Avondale police received a 911 call of a shooting about 3:30 p.m. Dec. 11 in an apartment in the 500 block of East Harrison Street, near South Dysart Road. 

Officers located 25-year-old Jesus Bonifacio Real dead in an upstairs bedroom, shot twice in the face while he was sleeping, court records show. Detectives learned he lived in the home with his two sisters, one of whom had a live-in boyfriend later identified as Cooksey. 

The victim’s cellphone was missing from the scene.

Shell casings were missing, too.

“In this particular situation, it was very active from the get-go,” Alt said. “We had people that were hindering and obstructing what had occurred. We were trying to get to the bottom and figure out what happened to this victim.”

Alt told The Arizona Republic he did not envision a protocol change about when the community should be alerted about higher-profile crimes.

“For the community members, I would say that we were able to conduct a homicide investigation, gather all the evidence, scientifically analyze the evidence with witness statements and locate the person who is the suspect in this case,” Alt said, defending the agency’s public silence for a month.

“… I think that’s the importance here.”

No public statement announcing homicide

Bare-bones bulletins about homicides, traffic fatalities and other high-profile police news generally is sent to regional media outlets from law-enforcement agencies.

In Avondale’s case, police did not issue a Valley-wide media statement, nor did officials share details on their website or social-media channels.  

A Phoenix television station emailed the department information line on the day of the shooting, trying to flesh out a tip. Police responded to the reporter the next afternoon with bare-bones details about the shooting death, according to that email obtained by The Republic. 

That was as far as the information sharing went. It remains unclear whether the news station aired preliminary details about the shooting at all. 

“There was information sent to a news organization about what occurred,” Alt said Friday, referring to correspondence with the single TV station. “I think the community was notified.”

‘We want the public to know’

In the hours after people were shot and killed in Phoenix and Glendale, police issued short news releases with very basic details about the crime scenes. 

Though the alerts to news outlets and posted to police department websites were generally sparse on details, they notified residents that someone had died, an investigation was ongoing, and police were seeking the public’s help.

It’s a public-safety standard that some law-enforcement agencies adhere to more than others, a discrepancy partly dictated by department size. Larger agencies have teams assigned to handle public information, but with 125 sworn officers, Avondale splits the duty among a few employees. 

Police generally hold back disseminating in-depth information about a case, citing the ongoing investigation. Circumstances might limit the release of new information as detectives track down leads and try to locate potential suspects.

Within a couple of days, police typically confirm at least preliminary incident details, said Sgt. Scott Waite, Glendale police spokesman.

“We want the public to know,” he said. “We believe that, just from experience, they’re our biggest ally in catching these people.”

While it might be good public policy and a noble best practice, law-enforcement agencies do not have a legal responsibility to notify the public that a higher-profile incident, such as a murder, has occurred, said Dan Barr, an Arizona attorney specializing in media and political law issues. 

“You can’t rely on the police to affirmatively inform you of when a murder has occurred,” Barr said Friday. “Should they do it? Yeah. But there’s no legal requirement.” 

Next steps

Asked if Avondale police would modify their practice about community notification of a homicide, Alt repeated that the department handles announcements on a case-by-case basis.

Thursday’s deluge of details about Cooksey and the nine deaths across metro Phoenix surpassed what Avondale might typically share, he said. 

“I don’t know if it would be something that we’re going to say ‘Hey, we need to review this,’ ” Alt said, adding that the only reason the notification topic was being discussed was because a reporter brought it up because of links to the serial homicides. 

Bouchard, the Avondale resident, said there needs to be a protocol in place for communicating with residents during major criminal incidents.   

“We just needed the preliminary information, like in any ongoing investigation,” he said. “If this was not linked to other cases, we would have never known.” 

Reach the reporter at 602-444-8515, [email protected] or on Twitter: @pohl_jason. 

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