A Florida father, armed with a rifle, fatally shot a neighbor who allegedly pursued his 16-year-old son and a friend in a road rage incident. The neighbor, identified as 47-year-old Marcus Blicker, reportedly followed the teenagers after they drove past his house in Port Orange, a suburb of Daytona Beach, on October 26, as per the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office.
Blicker is said to have left his house abruptly and began tailing the teenagers, driving erratically and swerving at their vehicles. The son, alarmed by Blicker’s actions, called his father to inform him of the situation. Surveillance footage captured the subsequent events, showing Blicker following the teenagers onto their driveway and threatening them.
The father, who wishes to remain anonymous, confronted Blicker with a rifle around 7:40 p.m. He fired warning shots into the air and demanded that Blicker leave his property. The father later told Fox35 Orlando, “I knew one thing, my son was eight feet behind me and that guy was not getting to them.”
The footage shows Blicker briefly reversing his truck off the property before accelerating towards the father and another individual standing nearby. The father, fearing for his son’s safety, fired several shots at Blicker as the truck drove towards them. The truck eventually came to a halt in the front yard, where Blicker was declared dead.
A Rottweiler in Blicker’s pick-up was injured during the incident but is expected to recover, according to officials. The motive behind Blicker’s decision to follow the teenagers remains undisclosed by the police.
In the aftermath of the shooting, no criminal charges have been filed against the father. Florida is a Stand Your Ground state, which allows individuals to use deadly force in self-defense to prevent imminent death or great bodily harm to themselves or others, or to resist any attempt to commit a felony upon them or in their dwelling.
The shooter expressed remorse over the incident, telling Fox35 Orlando that he had lost sleep over what happened and wished they could have talked instead of resorting to violence. He said, “I feel so bad for his family, my family, everybody’s family. Nobody wanted this.” The Volusia County Sheriff’s Office confirmed that an investigation is underway and that the accounts from the shooter and witnesses match what was captured on video and audio recordings.