Dad fatally shot while kids were in car on drive to see Christmas lights, AZ cops say
A father was shot dead as he took his girlfriend and their two kids on a drive to see Christmas lights, authorities in Arizona said.
The shooting unfolded on the evening of Dec. 8 when the father, whose name was not released by Phoenix police, pulled over to smoke in a cul-de-sac where a group of about 45 men were hanging out around a sports car.
Once he finished his smoke and went back to the car, men from the group ran toward him and beat and pistol-whipped him, according to a probable cause statement.
Police said the men then shot him multiple times with a pistol and AR-15-style rifle as his girlfriend and two children were in the car. The assailants then ran off and the victim managed to get back in the car, where he told his girlfriend he had not seen the men before and didn’t do anything to provoke them, police said.
His girlfriend drove him to his mother’s house and then the hospital where he died from his injuries, police said.
A cellphone belonging to one of the men was left at the scene of the shooting, police said, which led to the arrest of a suspected gunman.
After getting a search warrant, police said they learned the owner of the phone had talked to multiple people about getting guns and meeting up at a park to steal someone’s vehicle in an armed robbery.
Isaiah Nash, 19, was seen pistol-whipping the man before shooting him multiple times, police said.
Another man was also accused of shooting the victim with the AR-15, police said.
Nash was arrested on Dec. 16 and faces first-degree murder and attempted armed robbery with a deadly weapon charges.
His bail was set at $1 million.
Police did not release information regarding the other suspected gunman.
This story was originally published December 20, 2022 at 2:42 PM with the headline "Dad fatally shot while kids were in car on drive to see Christmas lights, AZ cops say."
