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.
On Wednesday, Andrew Thompson, 26, James Denson, 28, Jaylin Bedward, 26, Quandarious Hammond, 32, and Zvante Sampson, 34, were found guilty by a jury of their peers in Hillsborough County on counts of murder in the first degree, attempted murder, conspiracy to commit murder, and firing a gun into an occupied vehicle.
The incident took the life of 4-year-old Suni Bell and endangered the child”s uncle and mother, who were also in the car when a fusillade of bullets was unleashed that fateful day.
“Suni Bell should have just started third grade, laughing, learning, and enjoying all the things she loved,” 13th Judicial Circuit State Attorney Suzy Lopez said in a press release. “She lit up every room with her singing in church, her dancing, and her favorite LOL dolls. She was a protective big sister and a daughter who adored her parents.”
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On Aug. 22, 2021, Suni and her family were driving along Hillsborough Avenue in Tampa. The girl was in the backseat of the silver Infiniti eventually tailed by three other vehicles, gas station surveillance footage showed. When the trio finally caught up, dozens of shots were fired at Suni’s family – a lone bullet striking and killing the little girl.
Jurors were also shown surveillance footage from other businesses along the route, according to the Tampa Bay Times. Those videos featured the sounds of gunshots and bright flashes from the other cars’ windows depicting the onslaught of firearms discharging. In sum, roughly 40 bullet casings were recovered from the scene of the crime.
Investigators never determined which gun fired the fatal bullet – or even what kind of bullet was responsible for Suni’s death – but prosecutors argued those details were ultimately inconsequential.
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.
