On June 4, 2023, 27-year-old Tyesha Merritt of Mesquite, Texas, was fatally shot in the parking lot of the Riverstone Townhome Apartments in Sunnyvale, a suburb east of Dallas. The incident occurred around 6 p.m. when Merritt, accompanied by her brother and his three children, aged 8 to 10, arrived at the complex. As they parked, a masked gunman exited a black sedan, approached their vehicle, and opened fire.
Merritt was pronounced dead at the scene, while her brother and the three children sustained injuries but were expected to recover.
Witnesses described the suspect vehicle as a late-model black sedan, possibly a Toyota Camry, with custom wheels and dark windows. The shooter, described as a Black male over six feet tall and weighing around 230 pounds, wore a mask during the attack. Surveillance footage captured the suspect vehicle following the family's car into the parking lot, with the shooter exiting the passenger side, firing nine shots into the victims' vehicle, and then quickly fleeing the scene.
Following a year-long investigation involving the Sunnyvale Police Department, Mesquite Police Department, Carrollton Police Department, and the FBI, authorities arrested 27-year-old Quantavius Gomillia in Mississippi in late June 2024. He was extradited to Dallas County and charged with Merritt's murder. Police believe Gomillia was responsible for the ambush shooting that killed Merritt and injured four others. Additional charges related to the injuries of the other victims are pending.
The motive behind the attack remains unclear, and authorities have not disclosed what evidence led them to identify Gomillia as the suspect. The investigation is ongoing, and police have not provided information regarding any potential accomplices or further details about the case. The arrest brought some relief to the Sunnyvale community, which had not experienced a murder in two decades prior to this incident.
