After a shooting left a 5-year-old dead last week, two teenage boys and a 30-year-old man are facing multiple felony charges including first-degree murder.
On Monday, Tempe Police revealed the names of the three suspects arrested in connection to the shooting that also injured two additional children.
Authorities say 16-year-old Freddy Patterson, 17-year-old Charles Adams, and 30-year-old Demarcus Frazier have all been booked into jail and will be charged as adults in the crime. The U.S. Marshals Service task force worked with the Tempe police department to make the arrests.
“This was an extremely tragic homicide; one that just rocks the core of everyone in the community and the police department alike,” said Sgt. Greg Bacon.
The shooting happened just before midnight on March 21st, near Interstate 10 and Broadway Road. The victims, a group of seven, were stopped at a light near 48th Street along Broadway when they recognized people in another vehicle. They felt they were being targeted. Details have not been released as to their connection to one another. Reports detail that someone in the victims’ car asked them to leave, but due to being blocked in by other traffic. When the light turned green, the car continued eastbound into Tempe, with the three men following. After a brief time, Frazier, Patterson and Adams fired a minimum of 24 rounds from two weapons at the victim’s car. The victim’s car continued traveling on the road for a brief time, before fleeing as they all feared for their life. Authorities have reported that no one inside the victim’s car was armed or fired back at the suspects.
Authorities have released a list of victims involved in the shooting:
- A 5-year-old, shot and killed
- An 8-year-old passenger, shot
- A 17-year-old passenger, shot
- A 14-year-old, uninjured
- An 18-year-old, uninjured
- A 16-year-old passenger, uninjured
- A 2-year-old passenger, uninjured
All three suspects are facing first-degree murder and six counts of aggravated assault.
