Driver killed trying to escape road rage suspect, Georgia cops say. Shooter convicted
A Georgia man found guilty in a fatal road rage shooting will spend the rest of his life in prison, according to Georgia prosecutors.
Michael Charles Jackson, 61, was convicted of malice murder and other charges stemming from the January 2022 shooting death, the Gwinnett County District Attorneys Office said Dec. 12.
Investigators said Jackson tailed 46-year-old Don Wardlaw in his pickup truck and shot him, causing Wardlaw to veer off the road.
Wardlaw was found dead in his car after it crashed in someone’s yard. Authorities said he had been shot twice.
At trial, officers testified that, “at some point,” Wardlaw made a U-turn to try to escape Jackson.
“It is unfortunate that the mere act of driving could lead to this murder,” District Attorney Patsy Austin-Gatson said in a news release. “We hope that Mr. Wardlaw’s family will begin to heal from this tragedy.”
Jackson, who represented himself at trial, was given a life sentence plus 15 years without the possibility of parole, according to prosecutors. He was found guilty of felony murder, malice murder, aggravated assault, possession of a firearm during a felony and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.
Authorities said Jackson had previously been convicted of murder in North Carolina in 1987, and in 2016 for disorderly conduct involving a gun in Rockdale County.
A week after the road rage shooting, officers arrested Jackson during a traffic stop related to an outstanding bench warrant out of Clayton County, prosecutors said.
A search of his home turned up a box and ammunition for a handgun officers said was used in the shooting, according to prosecutors. Investigators said they also found gunshot residue in Jackson’s truck.
Friends and loved ones remembered Wardlaw as “a bright light.”
“He was funny and loved to joke,” according to an online obituary. “Most of all, Don loved his family, he loved people and he saw good in everyone.”