COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – A man arrested in connection with a road rage shooting on Interstate 70 in west Columbus faced a judge Wednesday morning.
Arrested was 33-year-old DeWayne Pittman after police traced his vehicle via Accurint technology following an incident that occurred on I-70 West, where a man was injured during an alleged road rage shooting.
Just after 7 a.m. Tuesday, officers responded to the area of I-70 West and the Hague Road exit after receiving reports of a driver shot. The caller, who was also the victim, gave police a description and license plate of a vehicle, a gold Chevrolet Equinox, which reportedly fled the scene north on Hague Road.
Police found the victim, who was driving a black Ford F-150 pickup truck, and a witness reported seeing the driver of the Equinox fire at the victim, who was suffering from a gunshot wound to the face.
With the help of Accurint technology, police traced the car to an address on Andurs Avenue in Whitehall, where Pittman was found and taken into custody. Pittman admitted to police he was involved in an altercation and driving alongside someone driving a Ford F-150 on I-70 West.
A Franklin County Municipal Court judge issued Pittman, arrested Tuesday and charged with felonious assault, a $500,000 bond and ordered him to next appear in court on April 25 for a preliminary hearing. A motion for a temporary order of protection was also granted.
A Columbus city spokesperson said Pittman, who was working for the city as an employee of a subcontractor hired for the city’s Enhanced Meter Project, is “no longer employed on this project.” The Columbus Department of Public Utilities said Pittman was employed by VEPO, which is under contract with Sensus, the prime contractor for the city’s meter project.
The victim, who identified himself to NBC4 as Jesse Morris, was taken to an area hospital for treatment. He said he has a hole in his lower jaw and that doctors had to pick shrapnel out of his face.
“I think I have a new outlook on life,” Morris said. “I want to return, you know, the remaining time I have left, enjoy the things I want to see and do with my family, my husband. It’s just, it’s hard that it was something as aggravating or bad as what happened yesterday to make me kind of realize what I would do with my life.”
The shooting happened as Morris was on the way to a chemotherapy appointment; he said he will need another surgery as a result of the shooting.
“I have a lot more in my life that I have to worry about than being upset or mad at him,” Morris said. “He made a choice to live with that choice. Now, just as I have to live with it. So he has a lot to deal with now, and it’s not going to do me any good to hold that hate in my heart. He does need to face consequences.”