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 on April 4.
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 .
Please help #Phoenix PD identify a suspect who shot and killed 10-year-old Summerbell Brown Wednesday night near 35th Avenue and I-10. Sketch and vehicle have been released. Call @SilentwitnessAZ 480-948-6377. #AZNEWSMEDIAhttps://t.co/XAUmEBm5vQ pic.twitter.com/ve4abTVfDE
— Chris Caraveo (@ChrisCaraveo31) April 4, 2019
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.
The Family of Summerbell Brown have released a photo of her. She was shot and killed in a road rage incident. The shooter is still at large #FOX10Phoenix pic.twitter.com/mFFAsFUbml
— CG (@CGoodFOX10) April 4, 2019
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.
Call @SilentwitnessAZ BEFORE posting any tips to social media. That way we get it sooner.
(480)WITNESS. #FindTheBLUEinYou https://t.co/niowpeJrnB— Sgt. Vince Lewis (@SgtVinceLewis) April 4, 2019
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.
PLEASE SHARE: Police just released this sketch of the suspect who was driving the white pickup truck, then fired the shots that killed 10-year-old Summerbell Brown and injured her father after they parked in their driveway. Please be on the lookout! #azfamily pic.twitter.com/i6c3gKRUPf
— Briana Whitney (@BrianaWhitney) April 4, 2019
