Jury selection is slated to begin Thursday in the trial of a felon accused of ambushing and killing a neighbor and seriously wounding her friend during a vehicle-to-vehicle attack in Hemet.
Brian Kevin Kumpe, 42, of Hemet, allegedly killed Pamela Daniels during a 2021 shooting on North Elk Street, near Devonshire Avenue.
Kumpe is charged with first-degree murder, two counts of attempted murder, special circumstance allegations of lying in wait and killing a victim in a drive-by, being a felon in possession of a loaded gun and sentence-enhancing gun and great bodily injury allegations.
The case has been tied up in pretrial motions for most of the month, but Riverside County Superior Court Judge Matthew Perantoni was expected to summon several panels of prospective jurors to the Riverside Hall of Justice Thursday for screening as to their availability and qualifications.
Kumpe is being held without bail at the Smith Correctional Facility.
According to a trial brief filed by the District Attorney’s Office, the defendant had been at odds with Daniels and other neighbors at an apartment complex at 446 North Elk for months prior to the alleged attack.
He believed the victim had contacted the county Department of Child Protective Services after witnessing his alleged abuse of his son. Court papers further stated that Kumpe had been in at least one physical altercation with several Black residents, all of whom he described with the “N” word.
On the night of Aug. 15, 2021, the defendant’s ill-will surged after another encounter with CPS agents regarding his family. Prosecutors alleged Kumpe got into his Chevrolet Tahoe and waited in it adjacent to the apartments.
The brief said that Daniels’ neighbor and friend, identified only as “D.D.,” intended to take the victim to a supermarket in her Volkswagen Jetta and was about to pull out when another neighbor, identified only as “Ryan,” came over to chat.
As the threesome were involved in conversation, D.D. heard Kumpe’s SUV “start up loudly,” court papers said.
“As she left the complex (and) turned southbound on Elk, she saw the defendant drive up to her vehicle going northbound on Elk in his Tahoe,” the brief said. “He ambushed her Jetta at the front gate to the complex.”
“The defendant was leaning his upper body out of the driver’s window and had a gun in his right hand,” according to the narrative. “Daniels yelled, `Brian stop!’ But the defendant shot into the vehicle multiple times, shooting D.D. once through her upper right arm and once through her lower left arm, and causing two gunshot wounds to the legs of Pamela.”
Ryan was standing nearby when the gunfire erupted and immediately bolted, trying to run for cover. However, Kumpe allegedly pursued him, “shooting at him from behind, each shot missing him,” according to the prosecution.
Kumpe allegedly sped away from the location, going to where friends were staying at a Perris motel, prosecutors said.
One of the wounds to Daniels’ legs penetrated an artery, and she bled out. Paramedics pronounced her dead at the scene.
D.D. was taken to Riverside University Medical Center in Moreno Valley for treatment and ultimately recovered.
Hemet police officers who had been investigating a separate incident near the location of the shooting reached the apartment complex in less than a minute, but they did not see the SUV fleeing the area.
After convincing one of his friends at the motel to hide his 9mm semiautomatic pistol, Kumpe persuaded another person to drive him to a motel in Lake Elsinore. Along the way, he gave different accounts of what transpired, at one point saying he had resorted to force because he’d been assaulted after complaining about his neighbors’ loud music. He then acknowledged that he “hated” Daniels for calling CPS on him, suggesting he acted out of revenge, according to the brief.
He remarked that the man he’d also allegedly targeted, Ryan, was a “400-pound … Black dude” who had broken his leg after falling on it during a physical confrontation, the brief stated.
Based on witnesses’ statements and evidence collected at the scene of the shooting, Hemet police detectives obtained and served an arrest warrant on Kumpe the next day in San Jacinto, where he was taken into custody without incident.
Court records show the defendant has prior convictions for robbery, attempted robbery and burglary.