Photo: google street view
Two men are dead after a fatal shootout, with children present, following a traffic collision, according to authorities. The San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department shared in a news release that they are investigating the deaths of 37-year-old Aaron Harris and 38-year-old Jonathan McConnell, who were found with gunshot wounds around 8 p.m. local time on Saturday, July 27.
Deputies reported that their preliminary investigation found that the two men had been involved in a hit-and-run before the shootout. McConnell had been riding a motorcycle on the 210 Freeway when he “split lanes and collided” with the sedan Harris was driving, which also contained his two children: a 2-year-old and a 5-year-old.
Harris followed McConnell off the freeway and into a parking lot on Baseline Street, where McConnell “met with several people” he knew, police said. At that point, Harris “stopped” his car nearby and “shouted threats” at McConnell. “When McConnell approached the vehicle, Harris fired a gun at McConnell and McConnell returned fire,” police said in their release.
San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department spokesperson Mara Rodriguez told KABC that the two men “became confrontational,” adding, “They were both armed, and a shooting occurred, and the two of them both ended up deceased at the end of the night.”
When deputies arrived on the scene, they found the two men wounded. Paramedics transported them to a local hospital, where they were each individually pronounced dead despite “lifesaving measures.”
Another man at the scene was injured after having “received a non-fatal gunshot wound to his hand,” and the two children in the sedan were unharmed, according to police.
“We all get angry on the roads sometimes, especially these days there’s so much traffic out there and so many things going on,” Rodriguez told KABC. “But this is a great example of how things can go so wrong so quickly.”
This incident underscores the dangers of road rage. A July report from Forbes Advisor found that California ranked as the state with the most “confrontational drivers,” noting that a “high percentage of drivers” in the state have experienced “some type of road rage, including being cut off, cursed at, and tailgating.”
As the investigation continues, authorities are likely to use this tragic example to highlight the importance of staying calm and avoiding confrontations on the road. The presence of children during such violent encounters adds another layer of urgency to the need for safer driving practices and conflict resolution.
