Police: 19-year-old drove from Lake Havasu to Mesa and shot man during dinner

MESA, AZ (3TV/CBS 5) — A 19-year-old man from Lake Havasu City has been arrested for the murder of a Mesa man earlier this week. The suspect has been identified as 19-year-old Elliot Bennett.

Around 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Mesa police responded to reports of shots fired at a home on Essex Lane, near the intersection of Broadway and Power roads. Inside the home, officers found 44-year-old Jacques Bourdeau dead in a bathtub. Police say he had been shot multiple times.

Three other people were at the home when the shooting happened, including a woman who told police she came to the home that evening to have dinner with Bourdeau and his two cousins, who also live there. When she got there, she said Bourdeau got a call from someone named Elliot, who Bordeau identified as a friend, and said he was also coming over.

The other man arrived a short time later and briefly came inside the house before going back out to the front yard and Bordeau followed him. The woman told officers that she then heard gunshots and Bordeau running back into the house and saying, “he just shot at me,” and then locked the doors. Both Bourdeau and the woman then ran to a bathroom down the hall and locked the door.

The woman said she then heard glass breaking and footsteps coming down the hall. She says the suspect then broke down the bathroom door and shot Bourdeau in the stomach. Then she said the man “emptied the gun,” shooting Bourdeau, who fell into the bathtub, multiple times before leaving the house and driving away.

She told police his first name was Elliot and that he was wearing a red sweatshirt, black shorts and was driving a gray sedan with a spoiler on the trunk. Based on that info and area traffic cameras, police were able to identify Bennett as a suspect. That night, the suspect’s parents reported that their car, a gray sedan, had been stolen earlier in the day and that they hadn’t seen their son for hours.

Police interviewed Bennett later in the week, who reportedly denied having gone to Mesa and that his involvement in Bourdea’s death were based on “rumors.” He was arrested for first-degree murder, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and first-degree burglary. He’s currently being held in the Maricopa County jail.

It’s unclear how Bourdeau and Bennett knew each other and police have not released details on a possible motive for the shooting.