Sidney Garfield Garrand, Arizona man indicted in fatal road rage shooting of Cassidy Moreno, Phoenix, girl, 8, after driver shot at family car amid argument with girl’s father.
Define senseless? An Arizona man has been indicted for allegedly shooting and killing a young girl after he started a fight with her father during a road rage incident in Phoenix late October.
Sidney Garfield Garrand, 48, is charged with second-degree murder, attempt to commit second-degree murder, discharge of a firearm at a structure, unlawful discharge of firearm within city limits, and three counts of endangerment. Victim Cassidy Moreno was just eight years old.
A father’s attempt to pick up his two young daughters from school turned into bloodshed after becoming embroiled in an altercation with another driver who took offense in what he believed was the father cutting him off.
‘In late October of this year, an 8-year-old passenger died from a gunshot wound after Garrand and another driver engaged in an argument,’ the Maricopa County District Attorney’s Office said in a statement on Tuesday. ‘Garrand was arrested by Phoenix Police and is currently being held in a Maricopa County Jail with a $500,000 cash only bond.’
‘Senseless violence is unacceptable in this community,’ County Attorney Rachel Mitchell said. ‘An innocent child was killed and no matter what is happening on the road, violence is never the answer.’
Senseless violence
The child’s father said he approached a four-way stop after picking up his daughters from school, according to documents obtained by AZFamily.
Garrand appeared to get upset when he turned left in front of him, heading south of 16th Street, he said. Garrand allegedly turned his Jeep around and proceeded to follow the man.
You know where this is going…
The father said he ignored the 48-year-old waving at him. Garrand allegedly stopped behind him at a red light, with the agitated man then stepping out of the Jeep, and punching the father through an open window.
The father fearing for his family’s lives (his wife and three daughters were in his vehicle), then took out a folding knife and ‘started swinging.’
Witnesses said Garrand held onto the father’s neck. With the knife, the man hurt Garrand near the neck.
The father began to flee in his car, but Garrand pulled out a gun from the passenger side of his Jeep, authorities said. A witness described Garrand firing five or six times.
‘It shouldn’t have to end this way right?’
Officers said he struck Moreno. Her mother called 911. The child was taken to the hospital in what the outlet described as ‘extremely critical condition.’ The child did not survive.
Both men also went to the hospital. Moreno’s father had cuts to his fingers.
Garrand was intubated and treated for cuts not only to his neck, but also to his right shoulder and upper chest area.
‘For anyone, it shouldn’t have to end this way right?’ Moreno’s aunt Thali Vargas told AZ. ‘An inconvenience on the road shouldn’t have to end in, not just for us but that man is now in prison, or jail I’m sorry. Did you get to where you were going? Did you get what you wanted out of the situation?’
‘I think for us it’s just a matter of letting people know that she wasn’t just the 8-year-old victim,’ she said. ‘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.’
Vargas described her niece as happy and having a good childhood, she told KPNX.
Garrand is held on a $500,000 bond. The man is scheduled to appear in court on Jan. 4.
