Kyle Brayer, a 34-year-old White/Caucasian male, was an off-duty Tempe Fire Medical Rescue captain who was fatally shot in the early morning hours of February 4, 2018, in Old Town Scottsdale, Arizona. That night, after a social outing with friends, he was riding on the back of a golf cart–style transportation cart with several other people, traveling southbound along Civic Center Plaza near Stetson Drive, just east of Scottsdale Fashion Square.
According to police and witness accounts, a red Scion coupe driven by 21-year-old Hezron Parks pulled up behind the cart and began following closely, bumping or “tapping” the rear of the cart multiple times as the group moved through the area. The repeated contact led to a confrontation: Brayer got off the cart and walked toward the driver’s side of the Scion in an apparent attempt to address the aggressive driving, while his friends remained nearby and watched the encounter unfold.
Investigators later reported that as Brayer approached the car, he was shot once in the head at close range by the driver, who then sped away from the scene. Witnesses described hearing a single gunshot and seeing the red car accelerate rapidly through traffic as it fled, striking or clipping several other vehicles as it drove away. Emergency responders transported Brayer to a hospital, but he died from his injuries. Scottsdale police opened a homicide investigation that same day, collecting a spent. 40-caliber shell casing and vehicle debris at the scene, which would later be used as part of the forensic trail tying the suspect’s vehicle and weapon to the shooting.
The suspect was quickly identified as Hezron Parks, a young Phoenix man who had spent the night visiting clubs in Scottsdale before the shooting. After media outlets broadcast details of the incident and a description of the red Scion, Parks went to the 4th Avenue Jail facility in downtown Phoenix later on February 4. According to police records summarized in news reports, he asked to speak with authorities about the shooting and was instructed to call Scottsdale police. During a 911 call, he stated that he was the one who had shot Brayer. Parks told investigators he had placed a loaded. 40-caliber Smith & Wesson handgun in his car before going out that night, described feeling threatened during the encounter with the golf cart passengers, and claimed that Brayer had approached with his hands up and had kicked or struck his vehicle. Police, however, noted that witnesses on the golf cart reported a different version of events, saying Brayer was some distance from the car’s window and had not said anything before the gunshot was fired.
Parks was detained by Phoenix officers and transferred to Scottsdale, where he was booked on one count of second-degree murder and held on a substantial cash bond while the case proceeded. Prosecutors later charged him formally with second-degree murder in connection with Brayer’s death, and the case went to trial in 2019. During the proceedings, the defense argued that Parks acted in self-defense, insisting he believed Brayer posed an imminent threat when he approached the driver’s side of the vehicle. Witness testimony from people who had been on the golf cart contradicted this narrative, describing Brayer as unarmed and non-aggressive at the moment he was shot. After hearing the conflicting accounts and reviewing the physical evidence, a Maricopa County jury found Parks guilty of second-degree murder in July 2019, rejecting his claim of self-defense. Authorities and city officials publicly characterized the killing as a senseless act of violence, and after the verdict, Tempe Fire leadership and city representatives expressed that while the conviction could not undo the loss, they believed it brought a measure of justice and resolution to the case.
