'There could have been two dead kids because of two stupid grown men'
Two "crazy" dads have been charged with attempted murder after opening fire and hitting each other's daughter's during a high-speed road-rage gun fight.
William Hale, 35, and 43-year-old Frank Allison were strangers until they met on Highway 1 near Callahan in suburban Jacksonville, Florida, late Saturday and began engaging in "cat and mouse" chase that allegedly involved them exchanging gun fire, and later brawling on the highway.
During the gun fight, Hale's 5-year-old daughter was hit in the leg and Allison’s daughter, 14, was shot in the back, leaving her with a collapsed lung, Nassau County Sheriff Bill Leeper said Monday, according to the
New York Post.
“What’s scarier than one crazy driver with a gun? Two crazy drivers with a gun,” the sheriff said.
“Thankfully, no one was killed in this incident, but it could have very easily turned out that way because two people were acting stupid and let their tempers get the best of them.
“There could have been two dead kids because of two stupid grown men.”
The sheriff said police “received multiple 911 calls with reports of people being shot at” on Highway 1, that a black Dodge Ram pickup was “involved in a cat and mouse game” with a grey Nissan Murano — and that another vehicle at one point was also involved.
Leeper said both men were speeding and "driving erratically" and brake-checking each other, which involves getting in front of another vehicle and then braking.
He said, at one point, Hale pulled his Dodge alongside the Nissan and was shouting when Allison's wife,"flicked him off with her middle finger". A water bottle was then thrown in her direction.
Allison is then alleged to have grabbed his Sig Sauer .45-caliber semi-automatic handgun "and fired one shot at the Dodge truck before driving away at an average speed.”Allison was said to have admitted firing a single shot, "to get out of the situation".
“The bullet that Mr. Allison fired went into the right side rear passenger door and struck a 5-year-old girl in the right leg," Leeper said.
Hale later told officers that “he heard a loud pop but thought nothing of it until everyone started freaking out in the back seat" and he realised his daughter had been hit.
Leeper said Hale then sped up and allegedly “began firing several shots from his Glock 43 9mm semi-automatic handgun out of the driver window".
The sheriff said that Hale later admitted he had emptied the magazine, "seven or eight rounds".
“At least three bullets struck the Nissan. One of the bullets went through the rear of the vehicle and struck a 14-year-old girl in the back,” he said.
Both men's wives called police and later agreed to pull over to meet a deputy, court documents showed, according to the Post.
However, the men instead “got out and started arguing and fighting", with the deputy having to break it up.
The man were both arrested and charged with second-degree attempted murder but later released on a $150,000 bond.
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