New details emerge about morning road rage homicide
Oct 7, 2024, 9:55 PM | Updated: Oct 9, 2024, 2:56 pm
SALT LAKE CITY — New details are emerging about Monday morning’s deadly road rage shooting on Highway 201 in Salt Lake City. The suspect driver is now in the Salt Lake County Jail.
According to court documents, the road rage between two drivers got so heated that one driver was accused of pulling out a handgun and shooting the other driver up to 15 times.
He died right there on the freeway, and the driver who troopers said shot him, 44-year-old Thomas Long is now behind bars.
KSL TV obtained the court documents late Monday night. It said both men were driving east on the 201 Monday morning when the victim’s truck cut off Long’s SUV.
On Wednesday, the Department of Public Safety released the identity of the victim as Jose R. Ramirez, 50, of Salt Lake County.
Dash camera video from another car captured Long getting angry, retaliating against the truck, brake-checking him, and then cutting him off. The two cars appeared to crash into each other multiple times intentionally.
The video shows Long forced both cars into the concrete barrier near 1000 West. Long then pulled out a gun, firing at the victim enough times to leave 15 shell casings troopers found on the ground, along with a handgun in a bag.
Long allegedly told troopers it was in self-defense. He claimed the other driver pulled out something from their waist, so he reacted and shot them.
Thomas Long is being held in the Salt Lake County Jail on multiple charges, including:
- Murder involving road rage, a first-degree felony;
- reckless driving including road rage, a class B misdemeanor, and;
- aggravated assault including road rage, a third-degree felony.