By Tamas Mondovics
A road rage situation that brought the evening rush hour traffic to a stand still on Bloomingdale Ave. just west of Kings Ave. in Brandon last month escalated to the shooting death of a Riverview man.
After notifying next of kin Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office said that Kenneth Michael Cuevas, 27, of Riverview, was in a verbal altercation with another motorist before he was shot and was transported to a local hospital where he died from his injuries. According to investigators and eye witness accounts, the shooting appeared to be the result of a road rage incident that occurred at around 6:30 p.m. as the two vehicles were stopped in traffic on Bloomingdale Ave., near Kings Ave.
Cuevas got out of his vehicle and walked back to the shooters vehicle when he was shot. The two individuals had a road rage altercation just moments prior in a second incident and subsequent shooting, deputies said.
The shooter, who has not been named, pulled off the roadway and waited for law enforcement.
Detectives said the shooter is being cooperative and that the investigation is ongoing.
Sadly, fatal, road rage-triggered shootings have been making headlines around the region and across the country.
Last month’s incident, which has stunned motorists who push their way daily through heav traffic on Bloomingdale Ave. reveals some chilling similarities with another fatal road rage shooting and only a few miles away, which also left one angry driver dead just weeks prior.
HCSO deputies responded to a 911 call about the shooting on East Dr. Martin Luther King J. Blvd. and Forbes Road in Plant City. HCSO Col. Donna Lusczynski with the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office said that Gary Lynn Durnham, 40 stopped his car in front of Robert Padgett, 42, got out, and an argument ensued between the two people. Padgett then pulled out a handgun and shot at least one round into Durham who died at the scene, deputies said.
Lusczynski did not hesitate to warn motorists of the dangers of road rage, when she said, “Don’t engage with people and, don’t get into some type of confrontation,” she said adding, “It’s not worth anybody’s life. Just drive by and ignore the person.”
For more information about HCSO please visit www.hcso.tampa.fl.us.
