Pregnant Teen Slain After Months Of Alleged Threats

Sheriff line tape blocking scene with police and ambulance.

An 18-year-old Arizona man allegedly shot and killed his pregnant teenage girlfriend and wounded two other women — one also pregnant — after she refused to abort his child, and police had reportedly been warned about his threats for months before the murder.

Story Highlights

Michael Sanchez, 18, was arrested in Avondale after the June 1 shooting near Buckeye that killed 16-year-old Riley Montgomery, who was 14 weeks pregnant.
The victim’s family says Sanchez had threatened Riley for months because he did not want her to have his baby, and had explicitly said he would kill her.
A second pregnant victim, a 17-year-old, was also shot and hospitalized; she later delivered her baby boy prematurely at 25 weeks.
Sanchez was wearing an ankle monitor at the time of the killing due to a prior road-rage incident in March in which he fled police and crashed his vehicle.
The family filed a police report about his threats roughly six weeks before the murder, but authorities allegedly dismissed them, saying the messages did not look like real threats.

A Pregnant Teen Murdered After Months of Threats

Buckeye police arrested Michael Sanchez in Avondale in connection with the June 1 shooting near Elwood Street and 257th Avenue that left Riley Montgomery dead. Riley was 16 years old and 14 weeks pregnant at the time of her death. Sanchez, identified as her boyfriend, faces multiple felony charges related to the shooting. Two other women were also wounded in the attack, including a 17-year-old who was pregnant and later delivered her baby boy at just 25 weeks gestation.

According to Riley’s stepmother Amy, Sanchez had made his intentions clear long before the shooting. “He had no reason to do that. All because he didn’t want her to have the baby,” Amy told reporters, adding that Sanchez “said many times that he was going to kill Riley.” Court documents reportedly reveal what led to the shooting, with investigators linking Sanchez directly to the homicide scene and identifying him as the father of Riley’s unborn child.

Family Warned Police — Authorities Allegedly Did Nothing

The family of Riley Montgomery contacted both Buckeye and Avondale police multiple times in the weeks leading up to the murder to report Sanchez’s threats. Among the messages Sanchez allegedly sent was one reading, “I’m going to get you and then I’m going to take care of myself.” The family filed a formal police report about these threats approximately six weeks before the killing. Authorities reportedly reviewed the report and told the family the messages did not appear to constitute real threats — a decision that now haunts the case.

This is exactly the kind of institutional failure that costs innocent lives. A young mother and her unborn child are dead, and a second pregnant teenager was shot, after law enforcement reportedly waved off documented, specific threats from a man already known to be dangerous. When families do the right thing and report violence before it happens, police have an obligation to take those warnings seriously — not dismiss them and move on.

Suspect Was Already Under Court Supervision

At the time of the murder, Sanchez was wearing an ankle monitor as a condition of release stemming from a prior road-rage incident in March, during which he fled police and crashed his vehicle. That means a court had already determined Sanchez posed enough of a risk to require electronic monitoring — yet he remained free to carry out an alleged premeditated killing. The case raises serious questions about whether the criminal justice system adequately used the tools at its disposal to protect Riley and those around her.

The motive connecting the murder to Riley’s refusal to have an abortion rests primarily on statements from the victim’s family rather than authenticated court documents or Sanchez’s own recorded words. Investigators have not publicly released a probable-cause affidavit detailing a confirmed motive. However, the pattern of behavior — repeated threats tied explicitly to the pregnancy, a shooting that targeted multiple women including another pregnant victim, and months of documented escalation — paints a deeply troubling picture. Arizona courts have handled similar pregnancy-related homicide cases before; a Pima County jury recently convicted Tucson man Rocky Hopkins of murdering his pregnant girlfriend and her unborn child after a full trial, demonstrating that such cases can and do result in accountability.