Arlington police are desperate for new clues in the road rage murder of a Fort Worth hotel supervisor.
A stranger pulled up alongside 26-year-old Brittany Daniel Wednesday at about 7 p.m. and shot her as she drove down Interstate 30 near Cooper Street.
Her family is convinced those killers will shoot again soon if they're not caught, and they’re speaking out to make sure another family doesn’t go through this.
"The person that killed my daughter need to be caught," said grieving father Malcolm Daniel. "Be a witness, instead of a defendant. That’s my message to the other people in the car who didn't have a gun. Be a witness now, instead of a defendant later."
Malcolm keeps a photo album of his daughter close to his chest at all times now. Brittany is smiling in every shot.
"It’s the doorway to her heart. If you see that smile, you can’t help but see straight through to her heart," he said.
Brittany was giving co-worker Jasmine Thomas a lift home from work Wednesday night.
They both work at Fort Worth hotel Hawthorn Suites by Wyndham on University Drive.
"Whenever I was down, she was the person that would pick me right back up. Just a smiley, jokey type person," Thomas said. "She was like a best friend to me, more like a sister from another mother."
Suddenly, a car with at least three people started driving aggressively behind them.
"We were going just normal highway speeds, I guess around 60 miles an hour," she recalls. "But I guess we wasn’t going fast enough, so he came around us and alongside us, and started saying crazy things, ridiculous things, and she started saying something back, and next thing you know I heard two pops. 'Pop! Pop!' And that was it."
Brittany was mortally wounded. But she had just enough strength to pull onto the shoulder.
She died within minutes.
“The last thing she said was, ‘I’m shot. Jaz, I’m shot. Call 911.” Thomas recalls.
Brittany and Jasmine both worked in housekeeping. Brittany had just been promoted to supervisor a few months ago. She would always make sure Jasmine had a ride home, or offer to give her a lift herself.
“I cry every night. I can’t hardly sleep. It just don’t seem real. One day you’re laughing and talking and the next minute she’s gone,” Thomas said, choking back tears.
Brittany’s father will always remember her sweet heart and wide smile.
“I want my daughter to be remembered as a loving daughter and sister,” Daniel said.
And also, he's still afraid that the killers will strike again soon.
“For a person to be so cold-hearted and kill an innocent person, not knowing that person--not knowing anything about them--if you can kill someone like that, then you’ll have to kill again,” he said.
Jasmine agrees.
“If they did it to her, I’m pretty sure they can do it again at any given moment,” she said.
Arlington police on Friday afternoon say they don't have any solid leads right now and need someone in that car to come forward.
Jasmine says there were at least three people in the car: a driver, front-seat passenger who cursed at them and a back-seat passenger who opened fire.
“Step up and confess what you did. Give her family peace,” she said.
Oak Farms Dairy, a local company that often offers rewards in cases like this, is offering a $10,000 reward.
