SLIDELL, La. — During the evenings, Byron Waller and his great-granddaughter are out playing in their Tanglewood neighborhood in Slidell, but thankful they weren’t outside Wednesday evening.
“It scared all of us,” said Waller. “It made me sick to my stomach because me and her play on that corner quite a bit.”
That corner, at Tanglewood and Timberlane Drives, is where a case of road rage ended with a man jumping out the passenger side of a grey car, shooting at a white truck. The truck speeds away, tearing through a few front yards.
One of those yards is Harlan Geauthreaux’s.
“We were sitting in our backyard and all of a sudden, we heard pop, pop, pop,” said Geauthreaux.
Police said the gunman is 21-year-old Kendell Matthews from Slidell, now charged with attempted second-degree murder. That road rage started near the intersection of Highway 11 and Brownswitch Road, about two and a half miles away.
“One of the two vehicles cut the other one off. I’m not sure which one did what first,” said Slidell Police Department public information officer Daniel Seuzeneua.
Seuzeneua said the driver of the grey car followed the white truck home. When the driver of the truck realized they were followed they got behind the grey car to get a license plate number. That’s when a home surveillance camera captures what happens next.
“It’s amazing that a guy just jumps out the vehicle and starts shooting away in broad daylight,” said Geauthreaux.
It happened during a time when neighbors say a lot of folks are typically out walking dogs or riding bikes. Police said the white truck and a home were hit by bullets. Betty Rodrigue said her neighbor’s fence was shot as well.
“It was scary,” said Rodrigue. “It could have been a lot worse. It could have gone through a window and hit somebody.”
Still in disbelief, neighbors said a case of road rage has no place on their streets.
“It was an individual that let his anger get the best of him, resulting in a very poor decision, a dangerous decision that could have ended a lot worse than what it did,” said Seuzeneua.
So far only the passenger of the grey car, Kendell Matthews is charged in this case and police say he has no criminal history with the department. Police also say other arrests and charges are pending.