In the last decade, law enforcement agencies have indicated that incidents of road rage are on the rise. When an aggressive driver takes out their frustrations on other innocent drivers, it can end in tragedy.
Yesterday, the UK’s Daily Mail reported on a tragedy which unfolded on the streets of Phoenix on Wednesday, April 3rd that left a 10-year-old girl dead and her father injured. The child died after a driver followed her family home and opened fire on them in an apparent case of road rage.
Sgt. Vince Lewis with the Phoenix Police Department said in a statement to the press that the fatal shooting which took the life of Summerbell Brown seems to have begun as a traffic dispute. At approximately 5:45 p.m. a man in a white pickup truck followed the Brown family to their home and fired several shots at the family as they were pulling into their driveway. Bullets struck both Summerbell and her father. The 10-year-old later died from a gunshot wound while her father suffered minor injuries in the incident.
Summerbell’s mother and sister were uninjured in the road rage shooting.
Members of the Brown family told Phoenix Police investigators that they had noticed the driver of the white Ford F-150 4-door pick-up truck following them very closely to their neighborhood located near 59th Avenue and Indian School. Dharquintium Brown, Summerbell’s father said in a statement that the driver of the pickup truck opened fire when he got out of the family car in order to confront the man who had been following them.
Authorities have released surveillance footage showing the truck and a composite sketch of the driver. He is described as a Hispanic man between 30 and 40 years old wearing a long-sleeve orange shirt. The white F-15 four-door pickup truck has visible scratches, dents and damage on the left side of the vehicle.
ABC15 released an update on Thursday indicating that the suspect vehicle may have been found and impounded with several people being brought in for questioning regarding the case.