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Phoenix Police: Woman Killed In 51 Freeway Shooting Was Being Chased

Traffic backed up on Arizona State Route 51
(Photo by Arizona Department of Transportation)
Traffic backed up on Arizona State Route 51 on Sept. 8, 2016.

Phoenix police said Dinya Farmer, 49, was shot and killed while driving on State Route 51 on Wednesday night. But police don’t think this was an act of road rage or related to last year’s freeway shootings.

Sgt. Jonathan Howard said the suspects started chasing the victim around 7th Avenue and Broadway Road. The woman called 911 to report that she was being followed by three people in white truck.

"To be honest, I feel a little better knowing that she was followed all the way from 7th Avenue and Broadway only because it gives me a little bit more indication there was some pre-incident contact that led to this senseless violence," said Howard.

The woman eventually merged onto the 51. While she was on the phone with 911, shots were heard and the call was ended.

The victim then crashed into the median. She later died of her injuries at the hospital. 

KJZZ senior field correspondent Kathy Ritchie has 20 years of experience reporting and writing stories for national and local media outlets — nearly a decade of it has been spent in public media.