A Marine waiting in line at a McDonald’s drive-thru in Bedford, Indiana was shot and killed in an apparent road rage incident early Sunday morning.
Justin Lampkins, 25, was sitting in a truck with his friends waiting in line at the drive thru around 1:20 a.m. when someone honked a horn at a pickup truck near the front, WTHR reported.
Evan Schaffer, 22, who was in the first truck, got out of the vehicle he was in and punched Lampkins.
“The victim shoved the accused back, the accused then presented a handgun,” Bedford assistant police Chief Joe DeWees told WTHR.
Schaffer then shot Lampkins in the chest and fled the scene. Lampkins was taken to Indiana University Health Bedford and later died, according to police.
DeWees said that the shooting suspect wasn’t driving and got into the back seat of the truck, when it left the scene.
Bedford police stopped the truck near Patrick Robbins Way and Indiana 37. Schaffer did not cooperate and police had to use a taser to apprehend him.
Police say it is unclear who honked the horn.
“We haven’t determined who actually sounded the horn yet,” DeWees told the Indy Star. “Just because you honked your horn shouldn’t lead to a fight and murder.”
Schaffer was charged Monday with murder and aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, a Lawrence County Jail Division official told WTHR.
The three vehicles in the drive-thru at the time came forward to provide the police with details, according to the police.
Lampkins graduated from Bloomington High School North in 2010 and joined the Marines in 2011. He spent four years on active duty based at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina. In 2015, he was honorably discharged.
“He was the true epitome of a Marine. He was a true hero who wanted to serve his country,” Lampkins’ sister’s husband Eric Stahl told Indy Star. “He would have defended anyone in any situation.”
[revad2]
