Two dads charged with attempted murder after 'shooting each other's daughters' in road rage incident
14 October 2022, 11:09
Bodycam footage shows moments after road rage shooting which wounded two girls in Florida
Two fathers have been charged with attempted murder in Florida after allegedly shooting each other's daughters.
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William Hale, 35, and Frank Allison, 43, were caught on body cameras shouting at one another during a "road rage incident" near Jacksonville.
They are said to have fired rounds during the spat.
Mr Allison's daughter Shelby, 14, was allegedly shot in the back during the incident, causing a collapsed lung, whilst Hale's five-year-old daughter was shot in the leg.
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In the footage, Allison is heard shouting "that's what you get" before giving his shirt to Shelby.
Later on in the video Hale is seen being read his rights.
At one point Shelby can be heard asking if she needs to ride in an ambulance.
Hale's daughter was not seen in the footage.
Both fathers were arrested on charges of attempted murder.
Describing what happened, Sheriff of Nassau County Bill Leeper said: "This is a road rage incident that occurred a little after 6pm on Saturday October 8, on US1 South Callahan."
He said police received "multiple" 911 calls with reports of people being shot.
A witness said the spat involved a pickup truck with five occupants driven by Hale, and a grey Nissan with three passengers driven by Allison.
"He described it as a cat-and-mouse game the whole time," said Mr Leeper.
"He said that both drivers were driving so erratically he called 911 because he thought something bad was going to happen."
The Sheriff said the drivers were "speeding, driving erratically and break-checking each other".
"At some point during the encounter the driver of the [pickup truck] got up alongside the Nissan," he said, describing how the drivers shouted at one another and threw things through each other's windows.
Allison then grabbed his semi-automatic handgun "and fired one shot" at the truck before driving away at high speed, Mr Leeper said.
Allison told the police the reason he fired was "to get out of the whole situation".
"The bullet that Mr Allison fired went into the right side rear passenger door of the pick-up truck and struck a five-year-old girl in the right leg," said Mr Leeper.
Hale said he heard the bang but thought nothing of it until "everyone started freaking out in the back seat".
He sped up and began firing from his own gun out of the driver window with his left hand, Mr Leeper said.
"At least three bullets struck the Nissan," he said.
"One of the bullets went through the rear of the vehicle and struck a 14-year-old girl in the back, causing a collapsed lung."
The men were then stopped by police, at which point they got out the cars to continue arguing.
Mr Leeper condemned the violence, saying both girls - who are expected to survive - could have died because their fathers "let their tempers get the better of them".
"What is scarier than one crazy driver with a gun? Two crazy drivers with a gun," Mr Leeper said.
"Thankfully no one was killed in this incident but it could have been 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."
