Man charged in road rage shooting of 5-year-old girl
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Anthony Jenkins, 35, is charged with endangering safety by use of a dangerous weapon and two counts of first-degree recklessly endangering safety.
According to the criminal complaint, the father of the little girl told police he was driving home from Burger King with his daughter in the back seat. He said he noticed a green van with gold trim tailgating his vehicle. He stopped his car in the area of 44th and Keefe when the driver of the van, later identified as Jenkins, began yelling at him about driving too slow. The little girl's father told police Jenkins got out of his car and walked in front of the van. The 5-year-old's father noticed Jenkins had a gun and began to drive away. As he was driving away, Jenkins pulled out his gun and began shooting at the father's vehicle, hitting the 5-year-old in her leg.
Police say they were able to find Jenkins by matching the van as seen in surveillance video of the incident to a post on Facebook Market Place.
When police spoke with Jenkins, he told police he was driving behind a silver Chrysler 300 that he said was going slow. When the Chrysler 300 turned onto N. 44th Street it came to an abrupt stop. Jenkins pulled his vehicle around the Chrysler 300 on the driver's side saying he heard someone yell from the Chrysler 300 so he stopped his van. Jenkins said he and the driver of the Chrysler 300 began to argue from inside their vehicles and that he told the driver of the Chrysler 300 to pull over if he wanted to argue. The complaint says Jenkins told police he saw the driver of the Chrysler 300 had a small black semi-automatic pistol, but said the driver never stuck his hand out the window.
Jenkins told police he got out of his van, went around to the Chrysler 300 and said "You gonna shoot me? Go! N**** just go then!" When the Chrysler 300 pulled away, Jenkins admitted he pulled out his pistol and shot at the car. According to the complaint, Jenkins said he never saw the little girl in the car and didn't know how many times he fired at the vehicle.
If convicted, Jenkins could spend up to 35 years in prison.