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 Ryan Elliott Giroux, 41, who an anti-hate group says has white
supremacist ties, is charged with multiple felonies including first-
and second-degree murder and is being held without bond for
probation violation, authorities said.
Wearing striped jail clothing and shackles, the tattooed Giroux made
a brief appearance at Maricopa County Superior Court where he spoke
only to confirm his name and date of birth.
He was read the 35 criminal counts he faces, which include
aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, armed robbery and
kidnapping, by Court Commissioner Sigmund Popko.
Popko told Giroux an attorney had been appointed by the court to
represent him, and then set a court date for March 26.
Prosecutors spoke of "the spree of multiple serious offenses with
multiple victims" and requested bond be set at $2 million, were
Giroux to have been eligible for pretrial release.
 A Mesa Police Department SWAT team arrested Giroux on Wednesday
after using a stun gun on him in a vacant condominium where he took
refuge hours after the initial shooting.
Officers raced to the area after a gunman fired several times with a
handgun into a room at the Tri City Inn motel in Mesa, killing David
James Williams, 29, as well as wounding Williams' mother, 51, and
girlfriend, 19, court documents showed.
The gunman fled the motel, "firing multiple rounds in various
directions," the documents said, before shooting and wounding a
student while carjacking another person's vehicle outside a nearby
restaurant.
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He then drove to two apartment complexes, shooting one male victim
at each, police said. One of those victims remained in critical
condition but was expected to survive, authorities said.
Police said it was unclear what sparked the shooting, and described
Giroux as a transient with an extensive criminal background.
The Southern Poverty Law Center, citing a retired Mesa police
detective, identified Giroux as a member of skinhead and white
supremacist groups. Police have not confirmed he has white
supremacist ties.
Giroux was released from his latest of several stints in state
prison in October 2013, after serving six years and three months for
attempting to commit aggravated assault, state corrections
department records showed.
(Reporting by David Schwartz; Editing by Daniel Wallis and Peter
Cooney)
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