← All cases

Wat Promkunaram massacre

Also known as: Waddell Buddhist temple shooting, Arizona temple murders

Active

1991–1991

Region

Waddell, Arizona, USA

State

AZ

Kind

Mass

Status

Convicted

Victims

9

On August 10, 1991, nine people were found shot to death in a circle on the floor of Wat Promkunaram, a Thai Buddhist temple in Waddell, west of Phoenix: the abbot, five monks, a novice monk, a nun and a temple helper. It was the deadliest mass murder in Arizona history, and the motive was robbery. Sheriff's deputies first arrested four Tucson men whose confessions proved false, and the case became a lesson in coerced interrogations. A rifle found in an unrelated search led investigators to two teenage high school classmates, Johnathan Doody, 17, and Alessandro Garcia, 16. Garcia pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 271 years. Doody's 1994 conviction was overturned on appeal because his confession was coerced, but he was convicted again in 2014 and sentenced to nine consecutive life terms.

Ask the Atlas about this case →

Victims

We remember the people whose lives were taken.

• Pairuch Kanthong · August 10, 1991

  The temple's abbot.

• Surichai Anuttaro · August 10, 1991

  A monk.

• Boochuay Chaiyarach · August 10, 1991

  A monk.

• Chalerm Chantapim · August 10, 1991

  A monk.

• Siang Ginggaeo · August 10, 1991

  A monk.

• Somsak Sopha · August 10, 1991

  A monk.

• Foy Sripanpasert · August 10, 1991

  A nun at the temple.

• Matthew Miller · August 10, 1991

  A novice monk and Foy Sripanpasert's nephew.

• Chirasak Chirapong · August 10, 1991

  A temple helper.

Timeline of locations

1. August 10, 1991
   Wat Promkunaram, Waddell (Crime scene)

   The nine victims were found inside the temple in the early hours of August 10, 1991, each shot once. The motive was robbery.

2. 1993
   Maricopa County Superior Court, Phoenix (Court / trial, approximate area)

   Garcia pleaded guilty and was sentenced in 1993. Doody was convicted in 1994; after that verdict was overturned and a 2013 retrial deadlocked, a third jury convicted him in January 2014, and he was sentenced to nine consecutive life terms on March 14, 2014.

3. 2014
   La Palma Correctional Facility, Eloy (Prison, approximate area)

   Doody is serving his sentence at La Palma Correctional Facility.

Watch, listen, read

Sources

• Waddell Buddhist temple shooting (Wikipedia)
• Arizona man gets nine life terms for Buddhist temple murders (Reuters via Chicago Tribune, March 14, 2014)
• The Sheriff's Suspects (Phoenix New Times, December 1991)

Each location also lists its own sources in the data file.