Insets, left to right: Freddy Patterson and Charles Adams (Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office). Background: The crime scene after Freddy Patterson and Charles Adams opened fire on a car full of people with another teen, Alfred Gray, in 2023 (Onscene.TV/AZFamily).
In Arizona, a group of teenagers fired over 20 shots into a vehicle occupied by children and other teens, tragically ending the life of a 5-year-old boy. After this heinous act, they went to get dinner and later returned to the scene to record a video, which they used to boast about the shooting, as stated by prosecutors.
Alfred Gary, 18, Freddy Patterson, 18, and Charles Adams, 20, received their sentences this week for the fatal 2023 drive-by shooting, reportedly linked to gang activity, according to the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office. While driving in Tempe, they came across a vehicle holding seven individuals and opened fire.
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All three defendants pleaded guilty to multiple felony offenses, including second-degree murder, drive-by shooting, conspiracy to commit drive-by shooting, and aggravated assault. Gary was handed a 16-year prison sentence, while Patterson and Adams were each sentenced to 30 years, the attorney’s office announced. A fourth alleged shooter, Demarcus Frazier, 32, still has his case pending and is facing the death penalty.
“In March 2023, the defendants pulled up alongside a black Impala stopped at a red light near 48th Street and Broadway Road in Tempe,” the office said Monday in a press release announcing the sentences.
“There were seven people in the other car, most of whom were children and teens,” the release said. “The defendants fired more than 20 rounds into the Impala, killing a 5-year-old boy. A 17-year-old boy and an 8-year-old girl were wounded. The defendants then picked up dinner before returning to the crime scene to take a video, which they used to brag about the shooting with fellow gang members.”
According to prosecutors, Patterson and Adams are both documented members of a local Phoenix street gang and they had “an issue” with a rival gang member who was allegedly a passenger in the Impala. The pair was given an additional 5 years in prison for a separate drive-by shooting in Phoenix that occurred just two days before the Impala was targeted.
“In that incident, they shot into a car with a mother, her 3-year-old son, and 14-year-old daughter inside,” the attorney’s office said. “No one was hurt.”
Speaking in a statement accompanying her office’s press release, Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell condemned the young men for their actions and warned others not to repeat them.
“Those who act with no regard for human life have no place in our society,” Mitchell said. “My office will continue to work with law enforcement to rid our streets of illegal gang activity and put an end to the terror it brings to our community.”
