Not-guilty pleas entered for accused Phoenix serial street shooter

PHOENIX -- A judge entered not-guilty pleas for a man charged with nine serial slayings in Phoenix.

Defense attorneys for 23-year-old Aaron Juan Saucedo waived his presence in the courtroom for his arraignment Thursday.

Saucedo was indicted last week on charges of fatally shooting nine people and wounding two others during a nearly one-year period ending in July 2016.

Saucedo, an ex-city bus driver, proclaimed during a court hearing in May that he was innocent.

The attacks terrified people living in the Maryvale neighborhood of Phoenix, a mostly Latino community where all but two of the killings occurred. Residents stayed indoors at night amid the height of fear over the killings last summer.

The case finally broke when Saucedo was arrested in April in connection with the August 2015 fatal shooting of 61-year-old Raul Romero, who had a relationship with Saucedo's mother. Authorities investigated Saucedo more closely and connected him to the serial killings.

All of the killings were random except for the first one, Phoenix police chief Jeri Williams said in May.  

Police have previously said that Saucedo left behind bullet casings at each crime that authorities tested and linked him to the shootings.