Road rage leads to murder-suicide www.privateofficer.com
An encounter on the roadways in El Dorado County led to the shooting deaths of two people in what police believe to be a murder-suicide.
Investigators said a man driving a pick-up truck and a man driving an SUV became aggravated which each other while driving in southern El Dorado County, trading insults and “hand gestures” on the roadway for 15 miles.
The drivers ended up crashing their vehicles through a picket fence, coming to rest door-to-door near the intersection of Broadway and Newtown Road off Highway 50.
The El Dorado County Sheriff’s Department said that one driver, identified as 36-year-old Jensen Kohutek, apparently opened fire with a handgun from his own vehicle, mortally wounding the other driver, identified as 49-year-old Jack Eugene Larson.
Kohutek then turned the gun on himself, investigators said.
“We do get it, where somebody in a fit of rage acts out, does something, takes a human life then is upset about it and takes their own life,” said Sgt. Jim Byers from the El Dorado County Sheriff’s Department.
One driver was pronounced dead at the scene and the other was declared dead at the hospital.
A female passenger in the victim’s car survived the ordeal without serious injury.
Investigators said the men did not know each other. They are looking into whether one or both cars were trying to run each other off the road.
“In road rage incidents, if you’re ramming a vehicle with your vehicle, that is assault with a deadly weapon and you have the right to defend yourself,” Byers said.
