A man is in jail in Stephens County following a suspected road rage shooting on Friday.
The shooting happened around 12:40 p.m. at the intersection of Highway 145 and the Toccoa Bypass. Deputies say a man in a pickup truck towing a pontoon fired shots at another driver. “The shooter confronted the driver face-to-face,” says Stephens County Sheriff Randy Shirley on Facebook. When the suspect sped off Shirley says, “Another vehicle gave chase alerting dispatch to his direction of travel.”
State and local law enforcement swarmed the area. Witnesses helped identify the suspect as Arthur Downs. Authorities found the truck and pontoon parked behind his house and obtained arrest and search warrants. They soon discovered Downs had switched vehicles.
“We were in the stages of securing the residence to do the search warrant when the suspect actually came back onto the property,” says Stephens County Sheriff’s Chief Deputy Andy Myers. “A traffic stop was conducted by a member of the Georgia State Patrol and a sheriff’s deputy and Downs was taken into custody at that time.”
Officials arrested Downs just after 2 p.m., about an hour-and-a-half after the incident began. They charged him with aggravated assault and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. Myers says more charges may be pending.
The shooting did not injure anyone. In an interview with Fox Carolina News, Myers says it appears the only damage was to an 18-wheeler that was left with several holes in its trailer.
The sheriff’s office ordered Stephens County Schools on soft lockdown. The schools kept children inside. Law enforcement quickly lifted the lockdown once the situation was secure.
