Police say the shooting grew from a month-old argument over $100 after a minor crash.
PHOENIX, Ariz. — A north Phoenix woman who was raising seven children was shot and killed outside her apartment Monday morning after a dispute with a neighbor over $100 tied to a minor car crash, and the neighbor was later booked on a murder charge.
The case drew fast attention across Phoenix because police say it began as a daylight argument between neighbors at a family apartment complex and ended with children nearby as gunfire broke out. Danielle Jean Kassandra Little, 35, was taken to a hospital after the shooting and later died. Daniel Rombach Jr., 21, was arrested at the complex. The central questions now are what investigators can prove about intent, what witness video and statements show, and how a debt described as minor turned into a homicide case.
Police said officers were called at about 8 a.m. Monday to an apartment complex near 11th Avenue and Mountain View Road in north Phoenix. When they arrived, they found Little with a gunshot wound and rushed her to a hospital, where she later died. Sgt. Lorraine Fernandez said the early investigation showed Little and Rombach were neighbors and had been arguing before the shooting. Family members said the argument grew out of a low-speed crash about a month earlier, when Little accidentally backed into Rombach’s car while taking her children to school and agreed to pay $100 for repairs. Her son, Jayden Daniels, told Phoenix television reporters, “She backed into him on accident.” Court records described by local outlets say the debt came up again Monday morning, and the confrontation moved from angry words to a drawn handgun within minutes.
The public account of the final moments came from a mix of police statements, family interviews and court records. Little’s sister, Hailey Byer, said a neighbor recorded part of the encounter and that the video showed Little turning to tell her children to go inside just before she was shot. Court records described by local news outlets say Rombach confronted Little again about the money and pulled a handgun from his waistband during the argument. Little’s husband, Kyle Daniels, told investigators he backed away because children were behind him, according to those records. The same records say Rombach later told police he did not mean to kill Little. Even with those details, key facts remain unclear. Police have not publicly laid out a full step-by-step timeline, said how many shots were fired, or said whether there were earlier threats between the neighbors before Monday’s confrontation.
The story quickly became larger than a basic police report because of who Little was and where the killing happened. Relatives said she was known as “DJ,” had recently given birth and left behind seven children. One of those children, family members said, remained in a neonatal intensive care unit in the days after the shooting. Byer said Little had struggled in earlier years but rebuilt her life around her family. “She got clean and sober for all her other kids,” Byer said in one interview. “She loved her kids to death.” The family also said money was tight and that Little had planned to pay back the $100 after covering rent and other bills. Byer said the damage from the earlier crash looked minor. That context has shaped the public grief around the case, because relatives say the dispute began over a sum that was small but felt much bigger inside a household already under pressure.
The location also sharpened the shock. This was not a late-night fight in a place strangers pass through. It happened on a weekday morning in the shared space outside apartments, with parents, children and neighbors starting the day. That setting has been part of nearly every public reaction since the arrest. Relatives have focused again and again on the fact that children saw at least part of what happened and will have to live with that memory. Jayden Daniels said the scene keeps replaying for him. “I wake up every day and go out there, look over there, and the scene just replays in my head over and over again,” he said. “I’m so traumatized from it.” The case has also stood out locally because the reported trigger was so limited in dollar value. In public comments, family members have struggled to explain how an argument over a repaired bumper or a small scrape could end with a mother dead in front of her family.
By Friday, the legal path was clearer than the full factual record. Rombach had been arrested the same day as the shooting and was being held on a $1 million cash-only bond, according to local court reporting. Phoenix television stations reported he was facing a second-degree murder charge, and one station reported his next court date was set for March 30. No attorney speaking for Rombach had been publicly identified in the coverage available by Friday. That means the case remains in an early but important stage. Investigators still have to sort out witness accounts, review any cellphone video and secure the full physical evidence record. Prosecutors will also have to decide how strongly they can prove intent if the case moves forward on the current charge. Police have not said whether any additional counts could be considered, and they have not publicly answered questions about the gun itself, including whether it was legally possessed.
Outside the courtroom, the loss has landed hardest on the people who lived with Little’s daily routines and now must rebuild without her. Byer said the picture of her sister collapsing after the shot will stay with her. In another interview, she cried out in anger at the way the argument ended, saying there were many ways for a fight to stop short of a killing. Little’s husband called her “forever missed” and “forever loved.” Those remarks, along with the son’s account of seeing the aftermath, have given the story an emotional force that goes beyond the charge sheet. The family has publicly mourned not only a woman they say was trying to care for her children, but also the sense of safety lost in a place that should have been ordinary. The apartment walkway where neighbors once passed each other on school mornings is now tied to one violent moment that relatives say began with a dent, a debt and a decision that cannot be taken back.
As of Friday, Rombach remained jailed, Little’s relatives were raising money for funeral costs and care for her children, and the next public marker in the case was the March 30 court appearance, when prosecutors are expected to say more about how they plan to proceed.
Author note: Last updated March 27, 2026.