Insets of men, clockwise from top left: Andrew Thompson, James Denson, Quandarious Hammond, Jaylin Bedward, Zvante Sampson (Hillsborough County Sheriff”s Office). Inset right: Suni Bell: (Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office). Background: The intersection near where Suni was shot and killed on Aug. 22, 2021, in Tampa, Fla. (Google Maps).
A group of five Florida men will be spending the rest of their lives behind bars for the drive-by shooting death of a 4-year-old girl.
In September, 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.
On Wednesday morning, 13th Judicial Circuit Judge Robin Fuson sentenced the quintet to life without parole in Florida state prison.
The violent 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.
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The judge was withering while issuing the sentence.
“You don’t get to do what you do and what you did and walk amongst us,” Fuson said, according to a courtroom report by St. Petersburg-based Spectrum news channel Bay News 9. “So for the actions, this is what you earned. Nobody put you in prison, you put yourselves there.”
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 drove two of the pursuing cars.
Still, prosecutors argued their collective actions were akin to a “hunt” intended to kill the people inside the pursued Infiniti.
“They knew exactly what they were doing,” Assistant State Attorney John Terry told the jury. “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 argued there was no way to know who out of the five actually fired the gun that took the little girl’s life. One defense attorney raised 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.
In the end, however, the jury sided with the state.
The judge said the outcome was a “cautionary tale,” according to a courtroom report by Tampa Bay-based ABC affiliate WFTS.
“There are no winners,” Fuson continued. “You’ve destroyed two sets of families, both sides of this equation. Nobody wins, everybody loses.”
During the sentencing hearing several of Suni’s family members offered impact statements spanning various attitudes.
One of the slain child’s loved ones said the since-condemned men had an opportunity to now become teachers of a sort.
“Y’all got 20 or 25 years or whatever to think about this,” Suni’s uncle said. “Tell your friends to put these damn guns down. You’re destroying families with s— that you’re doing, don’t even know what you’re doing.”
Another offered something not entirely unlike forgiveness.
“I know you guys probably did not mean to do it, but the outcome it did happen,” Suni’s mother said. “I feel for you. My heart goes out to all y’all, and we’ll be praying for y’all.”
Yet another provided equal parts forgiveness and despair.
“She was 4. She’s gone,” the victim’s grandmother said. “Your family gets to still come in the court, the jailhouse and see y’all, hug y’all, touch y’all. We have to wait till judgment day to see my grandbaby. I’m praying for your family, and I’m also going to uplift y’all in prayer as well.”
