The Washington Post is reporting that a police officer from New Jersey has shot and killed a man in Anne Arundel County, Maryland during a road rage incident.
Maryland State Police said Joseph Walker, a 40-year-old police officer from New Jersey, allegedly shot and killed 36-year-old Joseph Harvey Jr., of Halethorpe, Md., around 8:30 p.m. on Interstate 97 in Millersville, Md.
Police said that Harvey, who was driving with one passenger in a green Honda sedan, and Walker, who was driving a gold Kia minivan, became involved in some sort of dispute while traveling northbound on Route 3. Both drivers pulled off onto the shoulder of the ramp to I-97, and Harvey and his passenger both got out of the car, police said.
As they approached Walker’s minivan, Walker allegedly got out of his vehicle, stated that he was a police officer and shot a .45-caliber glock handgun in the direction of the two men, hitting Harvey, police said.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/...
The police have charged Walker with second degree murder and manslaughter for the death of Harvey. The Washington Post did not have any details regarding the nature of the road rage incident.
This incident reminds us that whenever someone has a gun, there is always the potential that the gun owner, no matter how well trained (in this case a police officer with the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office in New Jersey), could lose his or her "cool" and kill someone in the heat of the moment.
8:18 PM PT: The Washington Post has updated its article to give more information. Apparently, Walker (the shooter) had pulled on the side of the road 100 to 150 feet behind Harvey (the deceased). There are statements in the article that Harvey was approaching Walker's vehicle "in a reportedly aggressive manner" but it is unclear from the article the source of these statements other than they are from "one state police account." Based on this, I expect that the NRA will jump right on this one and claim that Walker legitimately exercised his right to self-defense.