MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Accusations of road rage landed a pair of brothers behind bars after a shooting in Raleigh.
Darion Townsend, 20, and Devonn Townsend, 18, sit in jail together after deputies tracked them down Tuesday.
Devonn told Shelby County deputies he was driving when his brother started shooting near Bolen Huse Road and Singleton Parkway.
The 19-year-old man they are accused of firing at least three shots at told investigators he believes it is a case of road rage.
The victim called 911 and met deputies at a Bartlett Kroger to make a report. But he was not the only one alarmed by what he heard.
“It didn’t take me but just a minute to realize that those were gunshots,” said a witness who was in the area and heard the shots.
The witness, a former first responder also driving in the area, decided to follow his instincts. He followed the accused shooter’s car at a safe distance and snapped a picture. Then, he followed them further into Raleigh.
“He went south on Highway 14, but I was able to get one more picture. But I also got close enough for a partial plate,” the man said.
He also saw what neighborhood the car turned into and then called 911 and spoke to a dispatcher, who connected him to investigators. From there detectives used the clues to help lead them to the brothers’ car, parked in front of their family home.
The brothers were not there but their mother was; she helped deputies locate her sons.
The man said this case shows sometimes just providing the smallest details, even just location, can make a difference to investigators.
“Just one letter in a partial plate, two letters, three letters, it doesn’t matter,” the man said. “I’m just tired of sitting and watching the news every day and the people getting mad, getting angry, just shooting at random people or whoever it may be and they never usually hit who they’re shooting at they usually kill someone they do not know.”
The brothers claim they were acting in self defense because they believed the victim showed a gun.
So far, Shelby County Sheriff’s deputies have had 15 cases of various roadway shootings, this year.
Map: Memphis interstate shootings, 2020
