The family of a person killed in a road rage shooting on I-80 in New Lenox is speaking out after the tragedy. NBC Chicago’s JC Navarrete reports.
A man has been charged with murder in connection with a road rage crash and shooting that took place in a Chicago suburb just ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday this week.
Phillip Rogers, 45, of Chicago, was charged with murder and aggravated unlawful use of a weapon by a felon, Illinois State Police announced Wednesday.
The charges come days after Rogers and another driver, Lenier Clayton, were allegedly involved in a road rage incident that led to a crash.
After the crash, Clayton, a 30-year-old Joliet resident, was shot. He was transported to a nearby hospital and pronounced dead, authorities said.
"Why would someone shoot my son like that -- not once, but multiple times?" Clayton's mother, Lenora Clayton, told NBC Chicago. "I don't understand that one human being can do another like that."
Further details on what happened during the incident weren't immediately released by police.
Clayton's oldest sister, Mia, said she missed a call from him just 15 minutes before the shooting.
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“I don’t know what he was calling to say, I don’t know if he was already in trouble, but I didn’t answer him because I was doing something, but I texted him at 5:30 and he didn’t respond and now I know why," she said.
Had she picked up, she told NBC Chicago she would have told her brother she loved him.
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State police urged drivers not to "lose your temper or your life" with aggressive driving.
"Road rage, don’t engage," the department said in a release. "If you are the victim of road rage or believe a driver is following or harassing you, call 911 and/or go to the nearest police department to report it."
Clayton's mother said she had a message for the gunman who shot her son.
"I'm going to let him know, 'I don't hate you. I love you and I forgive you,'" she said.
