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Father pleads for pregnant daughter’s killer to surrender
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Will McElroy was clutching a tissue in his left hand and wearing a T-shirt bearing a photo of his slain daughter as he pleaded for her killer to turn himself in to police.
“I just need him to step up and tell me what happened,” McElroy told a room of reporters Wednesday afternoon.
Police believe that on Jan. 23, someone broke into the apartment 19-year-old Amanda McElroy was living in at 461 W. Holmes Ave.
During a struggle between the robber and her boyfriend, Richard Kantorowski, a shot was fired and struck the young mother-to-be.
She and her unborn child died at a local hospital that night. She was seven months along.
Police have had little to go on — other than tips, the testimony of her boyfriend, a composite drawing and recordings of the 911 calls that were released Wednesday. They are now asking for the public to come forward with any information they might have.
Amanda’s family is grieving her death.
“We’re getting through it day by day,” McElroy said. “I just miss holding her and hearing her laugh.”
Police say they don’t believe the robbery and shooting were a random act since the man demanded certain items, said homicide Detective Esteban Flores.
Flores said the shooting might have been accidental, but the bullet could have also been meant for Kantorowski.
Police have no suspects and say Kantorowski has never been one.
Police have said Kantorowski was grazed by a bullet.
McElroy said Kantorowski, whom he once suspected, didn’t kill Amanda.
“He was actually trying to defend the family,” McElroy said.
In one of eight 911 calls police released Wednesday, Kantorowski can be heard pleading for police to show up and help him.
“My girlfriend got shot. She’s pregnant,” the sobbing man told a dispatcher. “Please help me.”
“She won’t talk to me at all,” he later said.
She breathed a little bit, then stopped.
The suspect is described as a white man, 35 to 40 years old, 6 feet tall and weighing about 180 to 190 pounds.
“It’s obvious this person’s a dangerous person, and we don’t want this to happen to anybody else,” Flores said.
Anyone with information should call Mesa police at (480) 644-2211, or Silent Witness at (480) 948-6377.
A memorial fund has been set up for Amanda McElroy’s 2-year-old son, Chase, and to help the family with funeral expenses. Donations can be made at Bank of America to account number 457001608054.
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