8-YO Girl Fatally Shot While Returning From School Awards Ceremony in Road Rage Incident | “Didn’t Have to Escalate”

An 8-year-old girl was killed while two men were hospitalized after a road rage incident turned violent last week in north Phoenix. According to court documents obtained by AZFamily.com, the incident began at a four-way stop after the 28-year-old male driver of a four-door black sedan picked up his daughters from school. They were headed back from an award ceremony when things took a turn for the worse. A 48-year-old Jeep driver, identified as Sidney Garrand, followed the car with five people inside after he "became upset when he had turned left in front of him to go south of 16th Street. Garrand reportedly turned his Jeep around, then followed the man and his family, which included his wife and three daughters," the site reported from the court document.

At the Greenway intersection, Garrand pulled up behind the father's car at a red light. He then walked up to the father and punched the man through the open window. The man said he feared for his life and his family's lives as well so he grabbed a folding knife and “started swinging.”

"The two adult males ended up getting out of their vehicles and continued with this fight in the intersection," said Phoenix Police Sgt. Brian Bower, according to PEOPLE. "One man grabbed a knife and stabbed the other multiple times." Police say the father jumped back into his vehicle and began to drive away. The Jeep driver pulled out a gun and began shooting at the back of the car. One witness claimed that Garrand fired five or six rounds and the 8-year-old girl, Cassidy Moreno, sitting in the backseat was hit. Her mother called 911 and she was taken to the hospital but sadly succumbed to her injuries. Both the girl's family and the attorney called the girl's death "senseless."

“I think for us it’s just a matter of letting people know that she wasn’t just the 8-year-old victim,” said Thali Vargas, Cassidy’s aunt.“That she was somebody’s daughter, sister, niece. I think for me what’s really hard is it didn’t have to escalate to that point on either end.”

Both adult males were taken to the hospital to be treated for their injuries. Garrand was later charged with homicide and multiple counts of assault and booked at Maricopa County Jail. He refused to speak with officials and invoked his right to an attorney. The girl's family is raising money for the girl's funeral on GoFundMe. "I am starting a fundraiser for my sister Michelle Hernandez and her little family because they were victims to a road rage incident on their way home from their daughters' award ceremony in which Carlos (dad) and their youngest daughter Cassidy (my niece) suffered injuries," Cassidy's aunt wrote on the fundraiser. "Unfortunately my niece succumbed to her injury on Saturday 10/29/22 at 12:00 noon."

References:

https://www.azfamily.com/2022/11/01/8-year-old-girl-dies-after-road-rage-shooting-north-phoenix/

https://people.com/crime/ariz-girl-8-fatally-shot-during-road-rage-incident-while-coming-home-from-school-awards-ceremony/

https://www.gofundme.com/f/hfpr64-moreno-family

Cover Image Source: 3TV