An Arizona jury on Thursday found Cleophus Cooksey Jr. guilty of murdering eight people in 2017, concluding three days of deliberations in a case that marks him as one of the state’s most prolific serial killers.Prosecutors said Cooksey carried out a three-week shooting spree that claimed the lives of both random victims and his own mother and stepfather. The killings occurred during a period of heightened anxiety in metro Phoenix, where residents were still unsettled by two separate serial shooting cases in 2015 that left many fearful of venturing out at night or driving on freeways.Cooksey, 43, faces the death penalty following convictions for murder, as well as charges of kidnapping, sexual assault, and armed robbery in a months-long trial.His victims in Phoenix and nearby Glendale included two men found dead in a parked car, a security guard shot while walking to his girlfriend’s apartment, and a woman who was kidnapped and later discovered in an alley after being sexually assaulted.An aspiring musician, Cooksey, was acquainted with some of the victims but not others, and authorities have not identified a motive.Police arrested Cooksey in December 2017 after responding to a call at his mother’s home. According to authorities, Cooksey answered the door with blood on his hands and became agitated, shouting, “It’s me, Trump! It’s me, Trump!” while claiming he worked for the FBI, as cited by USA Today.Officers used a stun gun to restrain him. Inside the home, police discovered blood on the walls and floor, as well as the bodies of his mother, Renee Cooksey, and stepfather, Edward Nunn.A friend of Cooksey’s mother and stepfather said the defendant deserved the death penalty. Eric Hampton, who watched Cooksey grow up, attended Thursday’s hearing to see if he showed any remorse for his victims.“I thought maybe he had a little heart. But he doesn’t have any heart at all, you know, to actually do these things to people and actually the worst part, kill your own mom,” Hampton was quoted as saying by CBS News.“He’s a monster, and I’m just hoping that when the sentencing phase of this is over that, you know, that they put him to sleep,” he added.
