This photo provided by the Phoenix Police Department shows a security video photo of what is believed to be the suspects vehicle in a road rage incident in Phoenix, Ariz. where a 10 year old girl was fatally shot. Sgt. Vince Lewis said the shooting that killed Summerbell Brown occurred Wednesday, April 3, 2019 when a man in a pickup truck that had been following a family's car fired several gunshots after the family pulled into their driveway. (Phoenix Police Department via AP)
Republished April 04, 2019 - 3:38 PM
Original Publication Date April 04, 2019 - 9:06 AM
PHOENIX - A 10-year-old girl was fatally shot and her father was wounded in their driveway in what may have started with a traffic dispute, Phoenix police said Thursday.
Sgt. Vince Lewis said the shooting that killed Summerbell Brown occurred Wednesday night when a man in a pickup truck who had been following the family's car fired several gunshots after they arrived at their home.
The girl's mother, who was in the front passenger seat, and sister were not injured.
The driver of the pickup then fled.
Lewis said the fact that the pickup was closely following the victims' vehicle might indicate there'd been a traffic dispute. He said there was no immediate indication that the family and the shooter knew each other.
"It's possible that this was a road rage that started earlier in the area prior to the victim's family arriving at home," Lewis told KTAR .
The father, Dharquintium Brown, told TV station KTVK-TV that the shooting occurred after he got out of the car to confront the man who was following his car. While police initially described Brown as critically wounded, he told the station he wasn't badly injured.
The girl was taken to a hospital where she was pronounced dead.
Brown, 37, called his daughter's death "heinous" when reached by telephone Thursday morning. He also said the family was working with police on a composite sketch of the suspect, but declined to comment further.
Police have since released footage from a nearby surveillance camera that shows a white pickup closely following the family's car around 5:45 p.m.
The shooter is described as a Hispanic man between 30 and 40 years old wearing a long-sleeve orange shirt. He was believed to be driving a white Ford F150 pickup with dark trim on the bottom. The vehicle has scrapes and damage on its left side above the rear tire, police said.
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This story has corrected to reflect police now say Brown's age is 37, not 30.
News from © The Associated Press, 2019