Andrew Thompson, James Denson, Quandarious Hammond, Suni Bell, Jaylin Bedward, Zvante Sampson,
A group of five Florida men may be spending the rest of their lives behind bars for the drive-by shooting death of a 4-year-old girl.
Andrew Thompson, 26, James Denson, 28, Jaylin Bedward, 26, Quandarious Hammond, 32, and Zvante Sampson, 34, were convicted by a Hillsborough County jury on Wednesday for charges including first-degree murder, attempted murder, conspiracy to commit murder, and discharging a firearm into an occupied vehicle.
The tragic event resulted in the death of 4-year-old Suni Bell and also put her uncle and mother in grave danger while they were together in a car bombarded with bullets on that ill-fated day.
“Suni Bell should be enjoying her time as a third-grader, filled with laughter, learning, and her many interests,” remarked Suzy Lopez, the State Attorney for the 13th Judicial Circuit, in a press statement. “She had a radiant presence, whether she was singing in church or dancing, and she cherished her LOL dolls. She was a loving older sibling and a treasured daughter.”
On August 22, 2021, Suni and her family were traveling down Hillsborough Avenue in Tampa when their silver Infiniti was pursued by three other vehicles, as captured by gas station cameras. Once the vehicles converged, a barrage of shots was directed at Suni’s family, with one stray bullet tragically taking the young girl’s life.
Jurors also saw videos from other surveillance cameras along the path, reported the Tampa Bay Times. The footage captured the gunfire sounds and bright flashes from the bullets erupting from the cars. Around 40 bullet casings were found at the crime scene in total.
Detectives were unable to pinpoint which weapon fired the lethal bullet or the type of bullet that caused Suni’s death, but the prosecution maintained that these specifics were ultimately irrelevant.
During the trial, the state alleged shared roles for the five defendants: only Hammond, Thompson and Denson fired their weapons, while Sampson and Bedward simply drove two of the pursuing cars.
Assistant State Attorney John Terry argued the quintet’s actions were akin to a “hunt” intended to kill the people inside the pursued Infiniti.
“They knew exactly what they were doing,” Terry told the jury, according to a courtroom report by the Times. “They were targeting whoever was in that car, and sadly it happened to be Suni Bell.”
During the two-week trial, defense teams did not call a single witness, but they argued there was simply no way to know who squeezed the trigger responsible for the bullet that took the little girl’s life. One of the defendant’s attorneys brought up the specter of “guilty by association” and implored jurors to reject such an outcome, according to courtroom reports by Tampa-based Fox affiliate WTVT and St. Petersburg-based CBS affiliate WTSP.
“A rational person should question why, under the facts of this case, the prosecution has made a blanket over this courtroom with the word ‘they,” defense attorney Daniel Fischetti argued.
The state had a counterargument for that line of thought.
“There is no law which indicates you don’t have enough defendants,” Assistant State Attorney Anna Ismer said. “There were too many shooters. There was too much evidence of ballistics at the scene. You don’t get away with murder because you had too many accomplices.”
Jurors ultimately sided with the state.
“Nothing can erase this tragedy, but today’s verdict ensures that those responsible for this senseless murder will be held accountable,” Lopez said on Wednesday. “We are humbled to stand with the family in our pursuit for justice for Suni.”
Each defendant is subject to a mandatory sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole. Sentencing is slated for Oct. 27.
