Fred Turner Jr., the Orlando man who was killed in a road-rage shooting on Interstate 4 while he was on the phone with emergency dispatchers Saturday, was a victim of mistaken identity, the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office said, as reported by The Orlando Sentinel. Jerome Edward Hayes, a 48-year-old St. Cloud resident turned himself in Monday morning at the Hillsborough County jail, where he was booked on a charge of first-degree murder.
The fatal confrontation happened nearly 90 miles from their respective homes in Orange and Osceola counties.
Hillsborough County sheriff's officials said Hayes shot Turner in a case of mistaken identity. Hayes, deputies said, got into a fight at the Gold Club, a Tampa strip club, and following that altercation, he was kicked out of the club. At the same time, Turner walked out of Tres Equis, an adult store and video arcade that shared the property. Hayes thought Turner was the man he had fought inside the Gold Club and took off after him, deputies said.
Turner died Saturday after telling a 911 dispatcher he was being followed by a man in a silver or gray Ford Taurus after he left a store in Tampa.
"While on the phone the caller stated that the vehicle following him had earlier pulled up next to his vehicle and someone displayed what appeared to be a semi-automatic weapon to him," the report read. "The caller stayed on the phone with 911 operators and the dispatchers heard multiple gunshots."
No information has been released about the second person seen leaving the topless bar in the Ford Taurus sedan, local Orlando news services said.
