Three teen gang members have been sentenced in a 2023 drive-by shooting that killed a 5-year-old boy and wounded two others, authorities said Monday.

Alfred Gary, 18, Freddy Patterson, 18, and Charles Adams, 19, pleaded guilty to a range of felonies, including second-degree murder, according to a release from the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office.

In March 2023, the trio pulled up next to a black Impala stopped at a red light near 48th Street and Broadway Road in Tempe. There were seven people in the other car, most of whom were children and teens, the release stated.

The defendants fired more than 20 rounds into the Impala, killing the boy, and wounding a girl, 8, and a 17-year-old boy.

“The defendants then picked up dinner before returning to the crime scene to take a video, which they used to brag about the shooting with fellow gang members,” the release stated.  During an investigation, police discovered that Patterson and Adams, both documented members of a Phoenix street gang, had an issue with a rival gang member who was a passenger in the other vehicle.

Including the murder charge, other offenses to which the three pleaded guilty were drive-by shooting, conspiracy to commit drive-by shooting and aggravated assault. Gary was sentenced to 16 years in prison, while Patterson and Adams were each sentenced to 30 years.

Patterson and Adams were given an additional five years for a separate drive-by shooting in Phoenix two days earlier. In that incident, they shot into a car with a mother, her 3-year-old son, and 14-year-old daughter inside. No one was hurt, authorities said.

“Those who act with no regard for human life have no place in our society,” Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell said. “My office will continue to work with law enforcement to rid our streets of illegal gang activity and put an end to the terror it brings to our community.”

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