Man driving with young children shot during Tennessee road rage incident
ATLANTA - Patrick King is haunted by the violent encounter with another motorist on a Tennessee interstate that left him hospitalized with a gunshot wound to the chest.
"I'm in the comfort of my own home. I'm in the comfort of my own bed. I'm in the comfort of my family back home, but I still can't close my eyes at night," King said.
Tennessee State Troopers identified that driver as 54-year-old Tyrome Ferguson of Sweetwater, Tennessee. He's charged with four counts of aggravated assault, after officials said he opened fire on the Kings' vehicle in a violent fit of road rage, striking Patrick King once in the chest.
"The bullet went in; it went through his lung. He had a collapsed lung. It went through his kidney," said King's wife Ashley. "It hit his liver and broke ribs on that side as well."
King and his wife Ashley were traveling home to Georgia with their 1-year-old son and 8-year-old daughter after vacationing in New York on February 28, when they ran into trouble along Interstate 75 in Monroe County, Tennessee.
The Kings said the suspect came out of nowhere and started tailing their vehicle, getting in front of them and slowing down. Then he pulled out gun.
"He came up behind the vehicle again and started shooting", said Ashley King. "When he started shooting a bullet went through the back fender, the back door, and then one hit my husband."
Miraculously, the bullets missed Ashley and the couple's two children.
The suspect fled the scene.
Ashley pulled off the road and called 911.
Medics airlifted Patrick to an area hospital.
State troopers used license plate readers to track down the suspect.
The couple's family started a GoFundMe to help cover Patrick's medical expenses, but the Kings said it will take a long time for their emotional wounds to heal.
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