Rylee Montgomery, 16, and her unborn child died after a Buckeye shooting.
BUCKEYE, Ariz. — The family of a pregnant 16-year-old killed in a Buckeye triple shooting said they had reported threats weeks before police arrested her 18-year-old ex-boyfriend.
Rylee Montgomery died after a May 14 shooting near 257th Avenue and Elwood Street. Buckeye police said Michael Sanchez was arrested in the case. Police said two other women were also shot and remained in critical condition.
Rylee’s stepmother, Amy Montgomery, said the family believed Sanchez had made threats before the shooting. “He has said many times that he was going to kill Riley,” she said, using an alternate spelling of the teen’s first name. She said the family filed a report about six weeks earlier.
The shooting also injured a 17-year-old pregnant girl and a 22-year-old woman, police said. Family members said the 17-year-old delivered her baby at 25 weeks after the shooting. Amy Montgomery said the infant weighed about one pound and was “fighting for his life.”
Rylee’s family said she was excited to become a mother and was due in November. Amy Montgomery said the family had planned a June 7 gender reveal. She described Rylee as kind and giving, saying the teen had a “heart of gold.”
Police said the shooting happened outside a friend’s house in Buckeye. Amy Montgomery said Sanchez was the father of Rylee’s unborn child. She said she believed he did not want Rylee to have the baby and was angry about people she spent time with.
Authorities have not said whether the earlier threat report is part of the current investigation. They also have not released all evidence gathered in the case or said whether additional charges are expected. The surviving victims’ conditions remain a central part of the investigation.
The case left Rylee’s family preparing for a funeral instead of the birth they had expected later this year. “I even told her a month ago to stop talking to him because I was not going to bury her,” Amy Montgomery said. “And now I have to bury her.”
As of May 16, Sanchez was in custody, two women remained critically hurt and Buckeye police continued investigating the fatal shooting.
Author note: Last updated May 16, 2026.