7-year-old girl dead in Phoenix drive-by shooting

A 7-year-old girl from a Phoenix suburb has died in a drive-by shooting instigated by an argument between her mother’s boyfriend and the suspect.

Suspect Terriance Armstrong Jr., 29, was arrested and now faces charges of homicide, prohibited processor, endangerment, possession of illegal substances for sale, and aggravated assault, according to Glendale Police.

The incident occurred days before the girl’s eighth birthday and officers were alerted after a gunshot was heard by the ShotSpotter system after midnight Thursday near the Bethany Home Road.

Minutes after discovering an empty shell casing on the floor of the crime scene, Police received a call informing them about the young girl who was shot and was at the Hospital.

The unidentified young girl was shot multiple times, and had died by the time Police reached the Hospital. The victim, along with her younger sister was in her mother’s car on their way to pick her boyfriend from a parking lot near West Bethany Home Road when the incident occurred.

As the family reached the location, they saw the boyfriend exchange some heated words with another driver. Police believe the family’s car was shortly followed by the suspect who fired from his vehicle once the car was pulling away from the parking lot.

He then fled from the scene while the distraught mother drove her child to the Hospital. Armstrong Jr., was later arrested by Glendale Detectives and a US Marshals Task Force on Thursday morning.

Armstrong has reportedly confessed that he fired his gun at the victim’s car. Authorities also found over 2,900 Fentanyl pills inside his vehicle.