OSCEOLA COUNTY, Florida—A Leesburg man is being held in the Osceola County Jail on no bond, accused of shooting a truck that contained a 5-year-old child in a road rage incident on Florida’s Turnpike Sunday, according to the Florida Highway Patrol Lt. Tara Crescenzi.
A trooper was conducting traffic enforcement in the median of Florida’s Turnpike near Kenansville shortly before 6:30 p.m. Sunday when he observed a white sedan driving recklessly and changing lanes around a white pickup truck in the northbound lanes.
The trooper made his way into traffic and watched the white car continue to improperly change lanes at speeds of more than 100 miles per hour until it was caught in traffic, according to an incident report. FHP pulled the car over and ordered the occupants to exit the vehicle. The driver, Zion Zaire Vincent Waller, 22, and his passenger, a 22-year-old woman from Minneola, exited the vehicle and Waller was immediately placed under arrest for reckless driving. His passenger was detained and placed in a patrol vehicle; Inside Lake is not naming the Minneola woman because she was not charged with a crime. Troopers began to inventory the vehicle before it was towed and discovered a Premier Firearms 556 rifle and a Glock 45 handgun in plain view, the report states.
As they inventoried the car, a white pickup truck pulled up to the scene and the driver told troopers his truck had been shot by Waller and pointed to a bullet hole on the left side of the truck between the driver’s door and the passenger door. The driver said the white sedan had been driving erratically around the truck before shooting at it, while it contained him, another adult and a 5-year-old child, according to the report.
FHP questioned Waller, who said he was involved in a road rage incident with the truck several miles south and the driver of the truck pointed what appeared to be a weapon at him. Waller told troopers he feared for his life and shot one round at the truck and sped up to get away. Waller said he did not call 9-1-1 because he did not “feel safe” pulling over, the report states. His passenger, the Minneola woman, told troopers Waller shot at the truck, attempting to shoot at the tires.
The driver of the truck consented to a search and no weapons were found in the vehicle.
Waller was arrested for three counts of attempted murder, aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, shooting into an occupied vehicle, carrying a concealed firearm and reckless driving. He was transported to the Osceola County Jail, where he is being held on no bond. The occupants of the truck were not injured.
Waller was arrested in Lake County in January for domestic battery by strangulation and two counts of child abuse. The charges were dropped just two days before the road rage incident.
