What's wrong with these people?
A 55-year-old Malden, Mass., man will be in Lynn District Court Thursday, accused of shooting a mother and her teenage son in an apparent case of road rage.
ADVERTISEMENT
NewsCenter 5's Gail Huff reported that William Green, 55, will be arraigned on a variety of charges including two counts of armed assault with intent to murder and two counts of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon.
Green was arrested on Route 1 in Peabody about 30 minutes after Lynn mother Linda Umphrey, 52, and her son Greg, 17, were shot in the back after a roadway altercation. Greg Umphrey wrote down Green's license plate number as Green allegedly sped away in his Subaru Forester following the shooting at 95 Nahant Street.
Linda Umphrey, who was driving her car, was shot in the shoulder. Her son was shot in the back. Both were listed in fair condition at Massachusetts General Hospital.
Relatives of the Umphreys said they are in shock.
"I don't know. I just don?t understand what goes on in people's minds that they can do something like that," said relative Randy Randazzo.
Green was licensed to carry a firearm.
Authorities said it was the second violent case of road rage in two days in Massachusetts. Tuesday, 27-year-old Brockton, Mass., father Sandro Andrade was getting his 10-month-old daughter out of his car when he was shot five times in the head following an apparent altercation. Walter Bishop, 60, was arrested and charged with first-degree murder. He pleaded not guilty and is being held without bail.
While police warn drivers not to get involved in fights with other motorists, one local psychologist said the recent increase in road violence may have to do with a "culture of fear."
"Everyday we're bombarded with images of danger, whether it's on the subway with the London bombings, whether it's Sept. 11, whether it's the person next door, I think it's this general level, and for susceptible individuals, the level pushes them over the top, and then they're over the top and then get, sort of one more piece added on, we have these kinds of terrible, violent explosions," Dr. Stuart Goldman said.
Experts also said heat and humidity can lead to an increase in violence.