Two children were shot after the men driving the cars they were in fired guns at each other during a road rage incident on a Florida highway, a sheriff said this week.
The injuries to the children, a 5-year-old girl shot in the leg and a 14-year-old girl shot in the back, were not life threatening, Nassau County Sheriff Bill Leeper said.
“There could have been two dead kids because of two stupid grown men,” Leeper said at a news conference Monday.
William Hale, 35, of Douglas, Georgia, and Frank Allison, 43, of Callahan, Florida, have been charged with attempted murder, Leeper said.
The shooting happened around 6 p.m. Saturday on U.S. Route 1, north of Jacksonville, after aggressive moves between the drivers that included “brake-checking” each other, Leeper said.
Hale, driving a Dodge Ram, pulled up next to Allison in a Nissan Murano, the front passenger of the Nissan gave the middle finger to the Ram and someone in that truck threw a water bottle into the Nissan through the open window, Leeper said.
Allison allegedly pulled a Sig Sauer .45-caliber handgun and fired one shot, which went through the door and struck Hale’s 5-year-old daughter in the leg, according to the sheriff and an arrest report.
Hale then allegedly pulled out a Glock 9mm handgun and fired seven or eight shots, striking the Nissan three times. One of those bullets hit a 14-year-old who was in the rear of the Nissan, according to an arrest report. The girl was hit in the back and had a collapsed lung, Leeper said.
Both men stopped their vehicles when they saw a sheriff's patrol car, got out and began arguing. A deputy broke up the fight and called Nassau County Fire Rescue, which took the children to a hospital for treatment, Leeper said.
Allison and Hale have been released from jail after posting bond, Leeper said. Court records show they face charges of attempted second-degree murder. Records do not show that any pleas have been entered.
An attorney listed as representing Allison did not immediately respond to a request for comment early Thursday. Online court records did not show an attorney for Hale.
