PHOENIX — A toy salesman with ties to Utah and some of California's wealthiest coastal cities is the prime suspect in last week's robbery and slaying of an armored-car guard outside an Arizona movie theater, authorities said Monday.
A Maricopa County judge issued an arrest warrant this weekend for Jason Derek Brown, 35, in the shooting death of 24-year-old Robert Keith Palomares, who was buried Monday in his hometown of Coachella, Calif.
"This was one of the most cold-blooded, execution-style murders I've seen in a while," Morales said. "We have to get him off the street."
Records show Brown owns two Salt Lake City-based businesses, identified by computer records as Toys Unlimited and On The Doorstep Advertising. Documents indicate that Brown operated both businesses out of his Utah home.
Clark Aposhian, a Utah firearms instructor, said federal firearms agents approached him for information on Brown after the shooting. Brown enrolled in a concealed weapon permit class that Aposhian, a member of the concealed carry review board of Utah's Department of Public Safety, taught last month.
Aposhian said that Brown bought a Glock .45-caliber semiautomatic handgun days before the class at Totally Awesome Guns & Range in Salt Lake City. Brown passed a firearms background check, which flags potential gun buyers with criminal pasts, Aposhian said.
Brown told Aposhian that he traveled frequently and needed to enroll in the class as quickly as possible. Aposhian recalled that Brown arrived at the class in a BMW, wearing a Billabong sweat shirt and spiky hair.
"He seemed like he was a trust-fund kid," Aposhian said. "He looked like the very rich, casual. And he talked like it, too. He was like a very irritating young California surfer dude. He didn't have very many social subtleties. . . . He seemed to already know everything."
Brown used his Glock during target practice, and he seemed like a first-time shooter, Aposhian said.
As part of the class, Brown was fingerprinted, and his prints were sent to state and federal authorities. He said Brown left blank the area on the form to list an employer.
Aposhian was devastated to learn that Brown may have been involved with last week's killing.
"I have taught thousands and thousands of people," said Aposhian, who is also a firearms lobbyist. "To my knowledge, none of them have ever hurt anyone. . . . I felt so bad knowing that I had some kind of a connection with this guy, and I look back and there were just no telltale signs whatsoever."