20-year-old arrested in road-rage shooting that killed 10-year old girl

Breaking News Emails

Get breaking news alerts and special reports. The news and stories that matter, delivered weekday mornings.

 / Updated 

By Shaiann Frazier

Phoenix police on Friday arrested a suspect in the shooting death of a 10-year-old girl, in what authorities said was a road rage incident.

The suspect, identified as Joshua Gonzalez, 20, was booked on one count of first-degree murder and three counts of aggravated assault, police said at a press conference Friday.

Police said Gonzalez was the driver who followed the girl and her family to their home on Wednesday after their vehicle had cut him off in traffic.

The young girl, identified in a police Facebook post as Summer Brown, was shot and killed when the driver opened fire on her family’s car. The driver then fled the scene, according to police.

Joshua GonzalezKPNX

The girl’s father, identified as Dharquintium Brown, was also shot. He suffered non-life-threatening injuries. The girl’s mother and sister were also in the car but were not injured.

Summer Brown’s mother said there’s “no forgiveness” for the shooter’s taking her daughter’s life.

“He took somebody that was very precious to us. Somebody that…. that a lot of people are going to remember and there’s no forgiveness for that,” Taniesha Brown told NBC affiliate KPNX in Phoenix.

On the same day as the shooting, police released a composite sketch of the suspect along with video surveillance that showed the driver following the family’s car through a neighborhood.

Police investigators identified the truck as the same one used in the crime, even though the driver had allegedly tried to alter the vehicle’s appearance, Phoenix Police Sgt. Vince Lewis said at a news conference. The driver changed all of the tire rims on the vehicle.

A vehicle that appears in a security video is driven by the suspect in a road rage incident in Phoenix where a 10-year-old girl was fatally shot.Phoenix Police via AP

Officials said it was “critical information” from a tip that led them to the suspect. NBC News was not immediately able to reach the victim’s family.

NBC News was unable to immediately determine if Gonzalez has a lawyer.

source: nbcnews.com