A Deltona man was arrested Wednesday on several charges following a road-rage incident in which he fired several shots at another vehicle.
The incident was reported just after 2pm in the area of Howland Boulevard and Goldenhills Street. No one was injured, but the victim’s SUV had two bullet holes in the back, and several shell casings were found in the intersection. Schools in the area were briefly placed on precautionary hold or lockdown while the investigation unfolded.
Immediately after the victim reported the shooting and described the suspect and his vehicle, deputies began searching the area and soon spotted the suspect’s blue Chrysler sedan parked at a home on Wanderer Drive. At the same time, crime analysts at the Volusia County Crime Center were using license plate reader technology in the area to identify the same suspect vehicle.
Deputies surrounded the Wanderer Drive home and made announcements for the defendant to come outside.
Ernest Woods, 46, eventually surrendered and was taken into custody. He and his wife told detectives they were traveling on SR 415 when they got involved in a road rage incident.
The two sides’ account of the road rage incident differed. Woods’ wife said an SUV was following close behind them, so her husband slowed down to irritate the driver, who then passed them and shouted racial slurs at them. The other driver’s account was that Woods pulled up behind him at a red light, yelled and called him names, then cut him off in traffic, and later pulled out a gun and fired at him.
The couple indicated Woods pulled a gun and fired because the other driver had thrown a rock or rocks at their car.
Detectives searched the couple’s car for signs of damage from a thrown rock, but were unable to find any.
Woods was charged with shooting at an occupied vehicle, aggravated assault with a firearm, as well as resisting an officer without violence and criminal mischief for damage he caused to a patrol vehicle while resisting arrest. He was transported to the Volusia County Branch jail with no bond pending first appearance.
