By Tim Clifford

Per the SPD Blotter a 35-year-old Burien man was arrested and booked into the King County Jail on Tuesday, July 21, after succumbing to a serious case of road rage while he was taking his son to a firing range.

The incident began around 1 p.m. at a stop light on 1st Ave. S. and S. Lander St. in the SODO district while the suspect with his family in a black Ford Expedition was waiting for a red light next to the victim in the other lane. Once the light turned green the two vehicles were simultaneously cut off by a car that sped through the intersection and ran its red light. The victim honked at this car as it passed.

Moments later the victim was shocked to look over and see the suspect in the Ford Expedition had a gun out and was pointing it at him. The victim slowed down, pulled behind the Expedition and followed it until it stopped in the Krispy Kreme parking lot on 1st Ave.

Once both vehicles were parked in the lot the suspect got out of the Ford with the gun and began yelling at the victim. The victim pulled out of the parking lot and flagged down a police car a few blocks away.

The suspect’s Ford was pulled over by officers at 18 Ave. S. and S. McLellan St. When asked what he was doing in the area the suspect told the officer that he was looking for a gun range to take his son to for his birthday.

When asked about the road rage incident the suspect claimed that the victim had tried to ram him with his car and that he “feared for his life”, including those times when he pulled alongside the victim with his gun out, lead him to a parking lot, and exited his own car to approach the victim’s car screaming with the gun in hand.

Police did not buy this man’s story and arrested him on charges of Harassment and Unlawful Use of a Weapon. The suspect’s handgun was also seized. Hopefully there are other, more level headed role models for the suspect’s child to look up to in his life.