SCOTT NORDSTROM | Arizona Death Row | Sentenced To Death By The State Of Arizona For Six Murders | Smiles As Verdict is Read | Autographed Letter Signed

Scott D. Nordstrom. Autographed Letter, Signed. Handwritten, Commercial #10 (4.125 × 9.5 envelope). Phoenix, AZ. Pmk: September 8, 2023. Content unknown. SEALED.

On May 30, 1996, shortly after six p.m., four employees were working at the Moon Smoke Shop in Tucson, Arizona. Noel Engles and Steven Vetter stood behind a counter, facing away from the front door, training a new employee, Mark Naiman. The fourth employee, Thomas Hardman, sat in a chair near the back of the store’s main room. The employees heard a buzzer indicating the front door had been opened, followed immediately by a gunshot and someone shouting at them to get down. Before dropping to the ground, Engles saw a man with a cowboy hat, glasses, and a mustache, carrying a gun. Engles also noticed another person moving around.  

As Engles, Vetter, and Naiman crouched behind the counter, they heard and saw someone run toward the back room of the store. The other person approached the counter where Engles, Vetter, and Naiman were crouched, demanding that they open the register and waving his gun, a semi-automatic pistol, over their heads. Naiman opened a nearby register. Their assailant responded by demanding that he open the other register. As Naiman moved toward that register, he heard the robber begin firing shots toward Engles and Vetter, who were still crouched on the floor.

Two bullets struck Vetter, one in the face and one in the arm. While these shots were being fired, Engles heard more gunshots and someone in the back room shouting to “get out”. When the assailant in the front room began shooting, Naiman glanced back over his shoulder and then fled without opening the second register. Naiman described the shooter as about 5′ 10″, with brownish-blond, shoulder-length hair and a handlebar mustache, wearing a black cowboy hat, sunglasses, jeans, and a dark blue or black striped cowboy shirt. Naiman ran out the front door toward the grocery store and called the police.

After the shooting ceased, Engles left the store through the back door. On his way out, he saw a man he did not recognize lying at the front of the store and Hardman on the floor in the store’s back room. Engles ran out the back door and along the rear of the strip mall, yelling for help. As he was running, he saw a light blue pickup truck driving along the back of the strip mall. Although he told police on the scene that he saw two people in the truck, at trial he testified that he was not sure about the number of people in the truck. He also stated that the two people he was sure he saw were seated far apart, one in the driver’s position and the other up against the passenger window, and that none of the people in the truck wore a cowboy hat.

Vetter left shortly after Engles did, using the back door. On his way out of the store, he saw the body of a person he did not know on the floor at the front of the store, and Hardman’s body lying face down in the back room. The man that neither Engles nor Vetter recognized was Clarence O’Dell, who died of a 9 mm gunshot wound to the head. The shot that killed O’Dell was fired from less than two feet away, and would have incapacitated him immediately.

On May 30, 1996, shortly after six p.m., four employees were working at the Moon Smoke Shop in Tucson, Arizona. Noel Engles and Steven Vetter stood behind a counter, facing away from the front door, training a new employee, Mark Naiman. The fourth employee, Thomas Hardman, sat in a chair near the back of the store’s main room. The employees heard a buzzer indicating the front door had been opened, followed immediately by a gunshot and someone shouting at them to get down. Before dropping to the ground, Engles saw a man with a cowboy hat, glasses, and a mustache, carrying a gun. Engles also noticed another person moving around.  

As Engles, Vetter, and Naiman crouched behind the counter, they heard and saw someone run toward the back room of the store. The other person approached the counter where Engles, Vetter, and Naiman were crouched, demanding that they open the register and waving his gun, a semi-automatic pistol, over their heads. Naiman opened a nearby register. Their assailant responded by demanding that he open the other register. As Naiman moved toward that register, he heard the robber begin firing shots toward Engles and Vetter, who were still crouched on the floor.  

Two bullets struck Vetter, one in the face and one in the arm. While these shots were being fired, Engles heard more gunshots and someone in the back room shouting to “get out.” When the assailant in the front room began shooting, Naiman glanced back over his shoulder and then fled without opening the second register. Naiman described the shooter as about 5′ 10″, with brownish-blond, shoulder-length hair and a handlebar mustache, wearing a black cowboy hat, sunglasses, jeans, and a dark blue or black striped cowboy shirt. Naiman ran out the front door toward the grocery store and called the police.

After the shooting ceased, Engles left the store through the back door. On his way out, he saw a man he did not recognize lying at the front of the store and Hardman on the floor in the store’s back room. Engles ran out the back door and along the rear of the strip mall, yelling for help. As he was running, he saw a light blue pickup truck driving along the back of the strip mall. Although he told police on the scene that he saw two people in the truck, at trial he testified that he was not sure about the number of people in the truck. He also stated that the two people he was sure he saw were seated far apart, one in the driver’s position and the other up against the passenger window, and that none of the people in the truck wore a cowboy hat.

Vetter left shortly after Engles did, using the back door. On his way out of the store, he saw the body of a person he did not know on the floor at the front of the store, and Hardman’s body lying face down in the back room. The man that neither Engles nor Vetter recognized was Clarence O’Dell, who died of a 9 mm gunshot wound to the head. The shot that killed O’Dell was fired from less than two feet away, and would have incapacitated him immediately.

Thomas Hardman was dead when Engels and Vetter found him in the back room. Two shots from a .380 hit him, one shot fired from several inches away, the other from two to four feet away. One shot would have been immediately disabling and lethal, the other would not necessarily have been fatal or caused unconsciousness. Hardman was found lying face down, but the medical examiner could not determine whether he was shot before or after falling.

Firefighters’ Union Hall

The Firefighters’ Union Hall in Tucson is a firefighters’ social club that allows non-firefighters to join as associate members. The front door to the Hall remains locked, and members gain admittance by inserting a key card into a slot. Members who forget their key cards and non-members can request admittance by ringing a buzzer. The bartender can open the door using a switch at the bar, although patrons often respond themselves by opening the door.

At about nine p.m. on the evening of June 13, 1996, four people were in the bar area at the Firefighters’ Hall:  the bartender, Carol Lynn Noel, and three customers, Arthur Bell, his wife Judy Bell, and Maribeth Munn. When Munn’s partner arrived at the Hall at about nine-thirty p.m., he found all four dead from gunshot wounds. Munn, who still sat on her stool at the bar, had been killed by a 9 mm gunshot fired from a distance of six inches to two-and-a-half feet. Mr. Bell was also still seated at the bar, dead as a result of a 9mm gunshot to the head. Mr. Bell had a bruise and cut on his face that were inflicted within twenty-four hours of his death. Mrs. Bell was lying on the floor next to a barstool, dead from a 9mm gunshot to the head. The investigating officers found shell casings on the bar, as well as nicks in the bar, consistent with the gunshots having been fired while Munn and the Bells had their heads resting on the bar. The medical examiner also testified that the gunshot wounds of Munn and Mr. Bell were consistent with this scenario, particularly those of Munn, who was killed by a bullet that also passed through her upper arm.

Noel was found dead behind the bar, lying face down. She had been shot twice with a .380, once in the head and once in the back. Both shots were fired from a distance of approximately three feet. She died as a result of the head wound. The shot to her back would neither have killed her nor caused her to lose consciousness. Noel also had a large laceration on her face, the result of blunt force impact such as that from a fist or a shoe. The wound would have bled significantly, and some of Noel’s blood was found in the back room of the bar, on and around the safe, which she could not open.

VIDEO: Scott Nordstrom Gets Death Penalty~Smiles As Verdict is Read ~Tucson Arizona | https://youtu.be/Vhk7buYRw60

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