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Five Men Sentenced to Life for 2021 Ambush Killing of 4-Year-Old Suni Bell

Jurors applied Florida’s principal theory to find collective responsibility even without identifying the shooter.

Overview

  • Hillsborough County Judge Robin Fuson imposed life in prison with no chance for parole at a Wednesday sentencing hearing.
  • Zvante Sampson, Jaylin Bedward, James Denson, Quandarious Hammond and Andrew Thompson were convicted on Sept. 17 of first-degree murder and related charges.
  • Prosecutors said surveillance at a Chevron showed the group monitoring the family’s car, pursuing it and unleashing more than 50 shots into the vehicle.
  • The family had been returning from a celebration of life and pulled into a field for directions when the ambush occurred, and Suni later died at the hospital as her mother and uncle survived.
  • Suni’s relatives delivered emotional statements in court, and the judge told the defendants there were no winners and that two families had been destroyed.