{"id":404733,"date":"2025-11-26T00:13:36","date_gmt":"2025-11-26T00:13:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/404733\/"},"modified":"2025-11-26T00:13:36","modified_gmt":"2025-11-26T00:13:36","slug":"hells-angels-gang-member-gets-life-sentence-for-2021-murder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/404733\/","title":{"rendered":"Hells Angels gang member gets life sentence for 2021 murder"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>PHOENIX \u2014 A member of the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club has been sentenced to spend the rest of his natural life in prison in connection with a 2021 gang-motivated killing, authorities said.<\/p>\n<p>The Maricopa County Attorney\u2019s Office said that 53-year-old Keith McCollough was convicted of first-degree murder and first-degree burglary.<\/p>\n<p>McCollough joined armed gang members in breaking into an apartment near 23rd Avenue and West Rose Garden Lane in Phoenix following a confrontation earlier that evening, according to prosecutors.<\/p>\n<p>Masked and armed, McCollough and his associates violently confronted the occupants, during which the victim, Richard \u201cRicky\u201d Coss, was fatally shot through the heart.<\/p>\n<p>DNA and physical evidence linked McCollough directly to the scene, prosecutors said. Additionally, witness testimony confirmed the attack was carried out in retaliation on behalf of the <a href=\"https:\/\/ktar.com\/arizona-news\/hells-angels-member-extradited-to-arizona-in-connection-to-2001-murder\/2145685\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Hells Angels<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell said the motorcycle club pressured and intimidated witnesses throughout the investigation and trial.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Hells Angels want to rule through fear,\u201d Mitchell said <a href=\"https:\/\/maricopacountyattorney.org\/CivicAlerts.aspx?AID=1260\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">in a Tuesday announcement<\/a>. \u201cIn Maricopa County, we do not bow to intimidation or outlaw motorcycle gangs.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Two co-defendants have already pleaded guilty. Jimmy Lee Eslinger is serving a 16\u2011year prison sentence, while Carl Blazak is serving 10.5 years for their involvement in the murder, prosecutors said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis sentence sends a clear message that organized criminal violence will be met with organized justice,\u201d Mitchell said. \u201cI am proud of the prosecutors, detectives and especially the witnesses who stood strong against a culture of fear and helped bring the truth to light.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"twitter-follow-button\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/serenaeosully\" data-show-count=\"false\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Follow @serenaeosully<\/a><\/p>\n<p>We want to hear from you.<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-top: 0px;\">Have a story idea or tip? Pass it along to the KTAR News team <a href=\"https:\/\/ktar.com\/arizona-news\/hells-angels-life-sentence-prison\/5782794\/mailto:stories@ktar.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/ktar.com\/newsletters\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/KTAREmail-830x100-1.jpg\" style=\"margin: 0 auto;\" class=\"mobile-signup\"\/>\t&#13;<br \/>\n\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/KTAREmail-830x100-1.jpg\" style=\"margin: 0 auto;\" class=\"desktop-signup\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>                    <script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PHOENIX \u2014 A member of the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club has been sentenced to spend the rest of&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":404734,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5131],"tags":[7155,5229,5643,1587,316,1589,7154,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-404733","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-phoenix","8":"tag-92-3-ktar","9":"tag-america","10":"tag-arizona","11":"tag-az","12":"tag-home","13":"tag-phoenix","14":"tag-phoenix-and-arizona-breaking-news-and-news-headlines-home","15":"tag-united-states","16":"tag-united-states-of-america","17":"tag-unitedstates","18":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","19":"tag-us","20":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115613113989187857","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/404733","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=404733"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/404733\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/404734"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=404733"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=404733"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=404733"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}