Suni Bell’s family sees photos of her lifeless body as state rests its case in murder trial

TAMPA, Fla. - On Friday, prosecutors finished presenting their case in the trial of five men accused of murdering four-year-old Suni Bell.

The five men, Jaylin Bedward, James Denson, Quandarious Hammond, Zvante Sampson and Andrew Thompson, who are being charged with murder, conspiracy to commit murder and attempted murder are all facing those charges in the same trial.

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Her family was in the courtroom on Friday and saw the pictures of her body that were taken after she was killed.

The medical examiner, who took the stand on Friday, said he found two bullet wounds on Suni's chest. He said one wound was likely from shrapnel and would not likely have been fatal. But, the other bullet that hit her went straight through her body and hit her heart and her lung.

It's not likely she would have survived longer than three minutes, though the medical examiner did say it's possible it was much shorter.

The backstory:

The state says Suni and her family were coming back from a celebration of life for a family member who had died, and they were headed to a get-together following the event that night in August 2021. Prosecutors say Suni's uncle, Willy Brown, was driving the car and her mother, Mary Harrison, was in the passenger's seat.

They couldn't find the location of the get-together, so they pulled off into a field to figure out the directions. Prosecutors say Sampson, Bedward, Denson, Thompson and Hammond were among a group that was hanging out at a nearby Chevron gas station, and they started watching the car that Suni's family was in.

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The group was seen gathering outside the gas station on surveillance footage.

Prosecutors say some of the men masked their faces and several grabbed guns, before getting into several cars and following the car that Suni and her family were in. Surveillance footage appears to show the cars following their car and ambushing them with about 40 bullets.

Suni's mother and uncle survived, but the child later died at the hospital.

Dig deeper:

The suspects’ attorneys have argued that there is no way to know which of them pulled the trigger and that the bullet that hit Suni is not tied to any of the guns recovered.

The defense attorneys made several efforts to have the judge throw out the charges against their clients, but all were denied.

What's next:

The defense will begin calling witnesses on Monday.