Orlando Man Killed In Road Rage Shooting

An Orlando man was killed in a road rage shooting Saturday afternoon after calling 911 and telling dispatchers he was being followed by a man with a gun.

The victim has been identified as 47-year-old Fred William Turner Jr. Police were still searching for the gunman Sunday.

Hillsborough County Sheriff’s deputies said Turner called 911 around 3 pm Saturday after having a confrontation at the intersection of North 50th Street and East Columbus Drive, about five miles west of I-4 in Tampa.

“While on the phone, the caller stated that the vehicle following him had earlier pulled up next to his vehicle and someone displayed what appeared to be a semiautomatic weapon to him,” Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Debbie Carter said.

Turner then told dispatchers that he was still being pursued as he was getting onto I-4 and heading toward Orlando and expressed concern right before the other vehicle pulled up to him again. According to Carter, Turner said he hadn’t done anything to cause someone to follow him.

“At some point, for unknown reasons, the occupant, or occupants, of one vehicle fired multiple shots at the other vehicle,” Carter said. Turner was still on the phone with 911 when he was shot. He pulled to the side of I-4, where he died.

Police were looking for a gray, newer model Ford Taurus with tinted windows after the shooting.

Hillsborough County Sheriff David Gee said the case looked like road rage, but said police are still interviewing witnesses.

“We’re going to have to reconstruct that from the 911 tapes,” Gee said, “but we know that we have the shooting apparently on the tape.”

Earlier this month, a New Jersey police officer was charged with the road rage murder of a Maryland man. Joseph Walker allegedly killed Joseph Harvey in a fit of road rage on Route 3 northbound near the intersection of I-97. It was unclear what caused the incident that led to the murder.