PHOENIX — A 28-year-old man has been sentenced to 30 years in prison for attacking four homeless people with a hammer in Phoenix, killing a 74-year-old, the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office announced Tuesday.
Mahrion Alexio Mendonca pleaded guilty in September to second-degree murder and three counts of aggravated assault causing serious physical injury, KTAR News reported.
Prosecutors said Mendonca attacked the first two victims, one of them asleep, on Sept. 29, 2025, near Central Avenue and Roosevelt Street. On Oct. 1, 2025, he circled a block before striking two more sleeping victims in the head several times. One survivor now uses a wheelchair and cannot speak.
“Some of the victims were sleeping and did nothing to provoke this violence,” County Attorney Rachel Mitchell said, adding that the sentence “holds the defendant accountable for the profound harm he caused.”
Sources: KTAR News. Thee Arizona Times uses AI-assisted reporting reviewed against the sources listed.
Photo: Zeb Micelli / CC0 via Wikimedia Commons.
