Suspect in road rage shooting that injured teen takes stand in court

Suspect in road rage shooting takes stand in court

Ariel Plasencia reports

TAMPA, Fla. - A judge set bond for a man who is facing charges in last week’s road rage incident that left a teenager injured.

Rasool Hakeem, 37, admitted to investigators that he fired his weapon at another vehicle, which he claims sideswiped him twice. He’s facing charges of attempted second degree murder with a firearm causing great bodily harm and shooting at or into a vehicle. Bond was set at $50,000 for all charges.

The Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office (HCSO) said two vehicles were heading northbound in the area of 4202 Falkenburg Road in Riverview around 5 p.m. Aug. 27 when there was some sort of altercation.

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After shots were fired, Hakeem pulled into a nearby shopping center parking lot and called 911. Those calls were played during his bond hearing Tuesday.

"I just had an incident where a young man tried to run my car off the road just now," Hakeem can be heard telling dispatchers. "He attempted to run my car off the road… He tried to do it twice. I almost crashed into a pole on the side of the road… There was a young lady in his car. I fired in self-defense because I thought he was about to run me off the road. I was about to crash into a pole. I fired in self-defense. The young lady was hit. I need you to send an emergency vehicle for her, please."

The 17-year-old front passenger suffered injuries to her chin and shoulder.

"It's the first time the public's heard a little bit about what happened. And through the 911 call, my client indicated that there was an encounter. He had to defend himself, and he immediately stopped, waited, called 911, and made sure that he got medical assistance to the person who was involved," Hakeem’s attorney, Jennifer Strouf, told FOX 13 Wednesday.

In court Tuesday, HCSO Det. Keaton Bruce testified that the 18-year-old driver admitted to "cutting off another citizen driver."

"He stated that he did not get into an argument with anybody. There was no shouting or yelling or pointing or anything of the sort," Bruce said. "He said he noticed a red SUV accelerate on his right hand side. He heard two loud bangs. Heard his sister start screaming. Kinda realized his sister had gotten shot."

According to court documents, "the entire driver side of Rasool Hakeem’s vehicle had fresh scuff marks from the front driver side to the rear driver side, which was consistent with (the victim) describing being struck by the suspect’s vehicle before the shots were fired."

During Tuesday’s court hearing, Bruce testified that at this point, he has not been able to locate any evidence to corroborate Hakeem’s version of events, that the victim’s car attempted to drive him off the road.

FOX 13 asked Strouf if she believes her client has a Stand Your Ground case.

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"It's actually too early to know that at this point. There's timing on Stand Your Ground, and it's ever so slightly different than what you would use in trial, which is justifiable use of deadly force. Again, I think this is a case that we first need to finish the investigation. I'm sure I'll be reaching out to the State Attorney's Office at some point to see if the lawyers can look at what actually happened and agree upon it. But it's a little early to tell what would happen. But as my client said, he was acting in self-defense," Strouf said.

Hakeem testified in court that he’s a father to two teenagers and an Air Force veteran, who’s currently working for a pharmaceutical company.

"This is a military veteran who has served. He is familiar with firearms and how they work, obviously through military service," Strouf said. "And I think we're going to see over time, more information will come to light, and the case will be litigated as we move forward."

FOX 13 made contact with the victim’s family, who declined to comment.