Disturbing trend of deadly road rage violence continues in the Valley

PHOENIX (FOX 10) -- It's a disturbing trend that's taken the lives of young people here in the Valley in recent weeks: we're talking about road rage shootings.

10-year-old Summer Bell Brown and 18-year-old A.J. Pettygrove were both killed in road rage shootings in just the last two weeks alone, and another teen was killed back in February.

Glendale police recently announced the shooting suspect in the Valley's latest road rage killing turned himself in. Details about the suspect's identity have not been released.

Since January, FOX 10 has reported on three children, ages 10, 16 and 18, who have all been shot and killed in acts of road rage. And three young men are behind bars, accused of the murders.

The surviving passenger in Pettygrove's car says the deadly incident started when Pettygrove accidentally cut off another driver. Pettygrove exchanged some tense words with the other driver, then threw his drink at him.

"As soon as the drink hit his car, I saw the gun right there," said Samuel Luviano-Gonzalez.

The other driver fired more than half a dozen rounds. Pettygrove didn't survive. Luviano-Gonzalez describes the gunman as a young adult.

"Goatee, black shirt.. probably mid-20s."

This incident comes less than two weeks after Brown was shot and killed in her family's car. 20-year-old Joshua Gonzales was arrested for the shooting.

In February, 16-year-old Mohamed Shah Bin Salim was shot while he was a passenger in his friend's car. 19-year-old Eduardo Rodriguez Madera was arrested for that shooting.

In each incident, police say the gunmen were angered after the victim's vehicles cut them off in traffic. Each road rage shooting happened on the Valley's west side. According to the Phoenix Police's community crime map, that area has a high rate of violent crimes and theft, but police say the gunmen, not location, are to blame.

"That was a decision that that individual made. I haven't seen anything that would correlate that to a geographic location," said Sgt. Vince Lewis. "The ability to control your emotions is going to be key in avoiding some of these interactions.. we don't know what the other driver is experiencing, we don't know what the stressors are in their lives, we can really only control our own emotions."

We expect Glendale Police to release more information about the man who turned himself in, and the charges he's facing, on April 16th.

The other two accused road rage shooters are each facing first-degree murder charges.