Man sentenced in I-70 road rage shooting that killed Carthage man
Update: On Sept. 13, 2024 Dion Kimbrough was sentenced to 60 years in this case. On Aug. 21, 2024, Dion Kimbrough was found guilty of one count of murder and one count of unlawful possession of a firearm by a serious violent felon. Kimbrough is expected to be sentenced later this year.
Previous coverage: Police have arrested a man after shots were fired from a box truck, striking and killing a man on Interstate 70 near the Post Road exit on July 20, 2022.
Eli Hickerson, 30, of Carthage, was a passenger in a red Ford Focus traveling eastbound on Interstate 70 about 5:15 p.m. Monday when shots were fired from a white box truck, striking Hickerson at least once, according to preliminary information from Indiana State Police. Hickerson was pronounced dead shortly after arriving at a hospital, officials said.
Police arrested 22-year-old Dion Kimbrough on Tuesday morning in connection the shooting.
According to a probable cause affidavit for Kimbrough's arrest, he was on post-trial probation monitoring. Kimbrough was wearing a GPS ankle monitor and review of the ankle monitor data showed he was in the area of Interstate 70 and Post Road during the time of the shooting.
Witnesses said they saw a white box truck driving recklessly on Interstate 465. The driver of the car Hickerson was in threw his hands up at the box truck, believed to be driven by Kimbrough, a witness said. When the red car Hickerson was in began to exit onto Interstate 70, the truck began to travel behind the car, witnesses said.
Then shots were fired at the car, witnesses said.
Kimbrough denied having a gun, the affidavit said, and did not answer when asked if he fired a gun at Hickerson's car.
Police believe the shooting was a result of road rage, officials said.
Shootings on interstates spiked in 2021, with road rage behind most cases, ISP told IndyStar a year ago.
Every year since 2019 there has been an increase in the number of interstate shootings. In 2020, interstate shootings more than doubled with 23 total. In 2021, there were 65, an Indiana State Police spokesperson said.
There have been 37 interstate shootings in 2022, ISP said.