Florida man shoots into an occupied vehicle in highway road rage incident, police say

A man was arrested Thursday after shooting into an occupied vehicle during a road rage incident on a major highway in southwest Florida, according to authorities.

Thomas Vincent Yanoti III of Cape Coral is facing charges of attempted second-degree murder, shooting into an occupied vehicle and aggravated assault with a firearm, the Collier County Sheriff’s Office said in a Facebook post. The 61-year-old was taken into custody by Cape Coral police officers at his home Thursday morning.

Yanoti remained in custody as of Thursday night, according to the Lee County Sheriff’s Office.

Deputies were called to Interstate 75 at Immokalee Road shortly after 3 p.m. Wednesday to a report of shots being fired into a vehicle. By the time they arrived, the shooter had fled the scene. Deputies also noticed that the victim was injured by shattered glass fragments hitting his body, not from being hit by bullets, according to the Facebook post.

Police didn’t release the name of the victim citing a law aimed at protecting crime victims.

The investigation revealed that Yanoti’s vehicle hit the victim’s automobile from behind as both were merging onto the highway. The victim pulled over on the side of the on-ramp to exchange driver information, police said, adding that Yanoti subsequently pulled ahead of him and stopped.

Yanoti exited his car, walked toward the victim’s car, pulled out a firearm and began firing shots through the victim’s windshield. The man laid across the front seat of his vehicle ducking gunfire as Yanoti continued to shoot. When the gunshots stopped, police said the man sat back up, and Yanoti then fired again before hopping in his car and driving north.

Once detectives identified Yanoti as the suspect, deputies obtained an arrest warrant and worked with Cape Coral police to arrest him.

“Southwest Florida is safer this morning with this person off our streets,” Sheriff Kevin Rambosk wrote in the Facebook post. “I commend our detectives for their diligence in identifying this individual and I thank our partners at Cape Coral Police Department for safely taking him into custody.”

Police didn’t release additional details.

Attorney information for Yanoti wasn’t available as of Thursday night.