HAZELWOOD, Mo. — Police said a person was injured after a road rage incident led to shots fired on a St. Louis County highway Wednesday afternoon.
Police announced Thursday that 40-year-old Gerald Fels from Florissant had been arrested and charged in the incident.
Hazelwood police said they were called to the ramp from northbound Interstate 170 to westbound Interstate 270 for a report of a person with a gunshot wound at around 4:45. When they arrived, they found a person with a minor injury that turned out to be from shattered glass.
Police said there was an argument between the driver and Fels that eventually led to both of them shooting at each other.
The person injured in the shooting was taken to the hospital for observation.
Police closed the exit to investigate, but it was later reopened.
Fels was charged with second-degree assault and armed criminal action. He was transferred to the St. Louis County Jail Facility, where he remains on $30,000 bond.
This is not the first shooting on St. Louis area highways this month.
Last Tuesday, a 17-year-old told St. Louis police he drove eastbound on Interstate 70 near Bircher Boulevard when he suddenly heard gunshots.
Police said within moments, the teenager noticed he'd been shot in his shoulder, hand and leg.
On April 15, officers say someone in a sedan pulled alongside 32-year-old LaTasha Cole's car, shot and killed her near I-70 and Cass Avenue then sped off.
Since September 2020, there have been at least six other shootings along I-70.
Troopers with the Missouri State Highway Patrol will now help St. Louis police officers monitor I-70.
"Adding state patrols will help out a lot, but at the same time, I would tell them to not just do it periodically. I think it has to be ongoing," said Jerome Hall, who lives in north St. Louis.
Chief John Hayden said the troopers will focus on weekend evening hours, with periodic enforcement on late Friday and Saturday nights.
"Additionally, as far as our current incidents, the vast majority of them would not be road rage or random occurrences, but through the investigations, it would appear as though the victims and potential suspects are people who are at least loosely acquainted with each other," SLMPD said in a statement. "However, difficulties arise when the victims don't see who was shooting at them, and when any ballistic evidence is potentially scattered on the highway or in the car from which the shots were fired."