Family members talk of teen killed in random shooting

PHOENIX - For the first time, a still shocked and terrified teen tells what happened the night bullets from a random shooting pierced her family's life.

Still fearing for her life, she asked ABC15 to conceal her name and face, so we'll call her Katie.

Katie said that she, her older sister, and close cousin Jonathan Peters headed to a nearby McDonalds for a late night bite to eat.

It was about 3:00 a.m. on Saturday, June 2nd when the trio was heading home and discovered their order was incomplete.

Jonathan was driving and doubled back to correct it, but before they could reach the fast food restaurant, their lives were shattered.

"I just heard a loud boom, when I felt the glass hit me. I just turned and looked at the window where the glass hit me from and there was a hole, a bullet hole," said Katie.

Someone had shot the red Honda they were driving for no apparent reason.

"I turned and looked at Jonathan, I seen the hole in his head. His head fell back and there was just blood coming out and blood all over his face. I was just freaking out, I didn't know what to do."

Jonathan had been hit twice, one of the bullets pierced his temple, but Katie and her sister's ordeal was far from over.

When Jonathan fell back, his foot stiffened against the gas pedal. The car was speeding out of control.

"I was like, we're still driving, the car is still going and I told her (sister) to push the brakes and she pulled the emergency brake and the car started swerving and we almost crashed into the light post, but I grabbed the steering wheel," said Katie still in disbelief.

Jonathan's parents Rosie and Daniel Peters told ABC15, detectives said the car sped out of control for almost a mile racing through a red light.

When the fateful call came in, Rosie was the one who answered the phone.

"When she said he's been shot, I knew it wasn't okay, I just felt that, I started screaming."

Daniel quickly grabbed the phone from Rosie desperate for information.

"No parent should ever have to go through this," said Daniel.

The couple rushed to the hospital to be by Jonathan's side.

"It was devastating. You could tell by the look on their face that it's grim," said Daniel.

"I felt like a piece of me was taken away. I couldn't believe it, I thought I was still dreaming," cried Rosie

The nightmare was real. Jonathan died at the hospital.

His killers are still on the loose, neither Katie or her sister saw where the bullets came from, or who fired them.

"Someone had to have seen something, someone knows who did this, it's nothing any parent should go through," said Daniel.

The couple have five children and say they each are special in their own way, but Jonathan, a middle child, always seemed to steal the show.

"A wonderful kid he was so loving, he was full of life," smiled Rosie as she recalls her precious son.

"He could walk into a room where everyone was down and before he walked out everyone would be laughing and joking. We had special times together and I will never share that with him now," said a tearful Daniel.

A fund has been set up to help the family with Jonathan's funeral expenses. 

It's called the Jonathan Peters Memorial Foundation at Wells Fargo Bank.

The family is planning a service to remember their son early next week.

A car wash is also being planned at Pep Boys Auto, 660 N. Dysart Road on Saturday between 8a m. and 1p.m.

If anyone has any information on the shooting, please call Phoenix police.