A judge on Wednesday denied bond for a 55-year-old Chesapeake man accused of killing another man during a road rage incident in the Deep Creek area last week.
Leonard E. Parker is charged with second-degree murder and illegal use of a firearm for the fatal shooting of 51-year-old Derrick Knight. Parker was arrested hours after the shooting and has been held without bond in the city jail since then.
The incident happened around 5:30 a.m. Friday at the intersection of South Military Highway and Canal Drive, according to police.
Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Bobby McFadden told District Judge Erin Evans-Bedois that Parker admitted to shooting Knight when he was questioned by police that day.
Parker told detectives he was on his way to work when another driver apparently thought he was driving too slow and passed him. The other driver got out of his car at the intersection and was angrily “waving his hands” as he walked toward Parker’s car, McFadden said while recounting Parker’s statement to police.
The prosecutor said Parker told detectives he fired one shot at the man because he was frightened, then fled the area and tossed the gun in some water. McFadden didn’t say what body of water.
A witness told police the person who fired the shot was driving a silver Ford Fusion sedan, McFadden said. Detectives identified the license plate through camera footage, and tracked it down to Parker, he said.
Senior Assistant Public Defender Leslee Tingle asked Evans-Bedois to grant her client bond, pointing to his clean criminal record, steady employment and strong ties to the community. He’s also an active member and former leader in a local Freemasons fraternal organization, she said, and had never had anything more than a traffic ticket.
The judge, however, agreed with McFadden that the seriousness of the charges warranted that Parker be held without bond. His next court date is a preliminary hearing scheduled for May 22.
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