Exercising the Right
Road Rage Leads to Deadly Shooting
One of the most important things a gun owner must learn is to never let his emotions dictate his actions. A tragic story out of Covington, Kentucky, drove home that point when a fender-bender turned deadly. WTVQ.com reported on October 12 about the incident, which occurred on Interstate 75 in Fort Wright, Kentucky. What happened next was caught on a 911 call.
Investigators say that 43-year-old Joshua G. Taylor, of Cincinnati, called 911 right after the accident occurred and told the dispatcher that he just had a collision with another vehicle in what he described as a “road rage” incident. Taylor’s voice got increasingly louder as he stated that he could see the driver from the other vehicle approaching him with a rifle drawn. There was a brief verbal interaction between the two men, shouting at each other, before Taylor fired multiple shots at the other armed man. Taylor then told the dispatcher that he shot the other man, and he began administering first aid.
Fort Wright Police and a Kenton County Sheriff’s Department deputy soon arrived on the scene and found 41-year-old John Patrick Abell suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. Abell was transported to a nearby medical facility, where he was later pronounced dead. Taylor was taken into custody and questioned but was released based on guidance from the commonwealth’s attorney. Investigators recovered the rifle at the scene that, they say, Abell was carrying. Investigators determined that the gun was not loaded and had a trigger lock in place, but this didn’t matter, as the commonwealth’s attorney explained. Commonwealth’s Attorney Rob Sanders publicly announced that the homicide was justifiable and explained, “Kentucky law states an individual is justified in the use of physical force upon another when the individual believes such force is necessary to protect against the use of unlawful force by another person…. The investigation by Ft. Wright and Kenton County Police Departments conclusively found the shooter was reasonably in fear for his own life and responded lawfully…. There was no way for Mr. Taylor to know the rifle being stuck in his face was inoperable…. So that does not make his reaction unreasonable or unlawful…. In fact, anyone who has a gun pointed at him should always assume the gun is loaded.”
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