College Professor Opens Fire On An Iowa Interstate

Dent8 years ago

This seemingly harmless looking Harper College psychology professor, Charles Johnston, was fired Tuesday after allegedly going on a shooting rampage against truck drivers and police on I-80 in Iowa earlier this month.

From Chicago Tribune:

According to police and court documents received through a public records request, Johnston told authorities following the incident that he was enraged and wanted to “harm a truck driver or truck drivers in retaliation” for a family who were killed in a crash with a semitrailer.

Johnston became “obsessed with” the unspecified crash, authorities said in recent court filings. Police and court documents do not detail when or where the crash happened.

First off, let me just say that I am all for vigilante justice. If this guy had seen the semi run someone off the road and then proceeded to jump into action, that would’ve been dope. But instead, he was so infuriated over some alleged crash (that we still don’t know actually happened) that he lost all composure. Hindsight is 20/20, but waging war on all semi-trucks plus the police at the same time isn’t typically a battle you are going to win. Those are a couple of formidable opponents, chief.

Authorities said a driver of a semitrailer reported that Johnston pointed a handgun out the window of his black Volkswagen Jetta and started firing shots at the truck driver as he was pulling out of a Pilot Travel Center near Atalissa, Iowa.

When Johnston pulled around to the passenger side of the truck and continued firing, the truck driver swerved and struck the Volkswagen, pinning the car under the trailer, authorities said.

Johnston then fired several more rounds into the passenger door of the truck before heading south on Atalissa Road, where he proceeded to exchange gunfire with state troopers and police officers in a brief standoff before being arrested by police.

You put a Volkswagen up against a semi 100 times, and that semi-truck is gonna win every single time.

Hopefully, this well thought out plan was worth it because now this guy is up against attempted murder charges. One has to wonder what could have possibly caused a man to have such rage that he would do this?

Authorities said Johnston also had several bottles of prescription drugs inside his vehicle and told police that he had been hospitalized recently.

Ahh that explains it. Case closed..

[via Chicago Tribune]

Image via Cedar County Sheriff’s Department