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- Thomas Jim Long, 44, of Salt Lake City, was charged Thursday with murder and accused of shooting and killing another driver at close range in a road rage attack.
- The confrontation occurred Oct. 7 on state Route 201, where both drivers swerved into each other, leading to a crash.
- Long claimed self-defense, but police say the victim was unarmed. Long allegedly laughed during a 911 call.
SALT LAKE CITY — A Salt Lake man was charged Thursday with murder in a brutal road rage shooting death.
Police say the man forced another driver off the road and then shot at his vehicle 15 times at close range — killing the driver while he was still in his seat belt.
Thomas Jim Long, 44, of Salt Lake City, is charged in 3rd District Court with murder and eight counts of firing a gun causing serious injury, first-degree felonies; plus six more counts of illegally firing a gun, a third-degree felony.
Long claimed he was acting in self-defense.
About 5:20 a.m. on Oct. 7, police say two vehicles engaged in a road rage confrontation on eastbound state Route 201 in West Valley City until about 1000 West. At that location, Utah Highway Patrol troopers found "a black Dodge Ram pickup that had crashed into the concrete barrier" and a Ford Explorer to the left of the Dodge.
"Agents located 15 shell casings between the passenger side of the Ford Explorer and the driver's side of the Dodge Ram. Bullet holes were also located in the passenger side window of the Dodge Ram with an outward direction. There was a deceased male in the driver's seat of the Dodge Ram with his seat belt still on," according to charging documents.
Jose Ramirez, 50, was pronounced dead at the scene.
Investigators were able to collect dashboard camera video from a witness. The video shows Ramirez merging across two lanes of traffic in front of Long. Long responds by speeding past Ramirez, "pulling in front of him without signaling and brakes hard," the charges state.
At that point, the two men continued to go back and forth at each other with Long brake checking Ramirez several times and Ramirez swerving into Long's vehicle, according to the charges. Both men eventually crashed into the concrete barrier at 1000 West after swerving into each other.
Long called 911 a short time later and told emergency dispatchers that he had just been run off of the road and that his life was threatened, court documents say.
"When dispatch asked, 'Are you guys injured?" Long replies, 'Uh, he is,' and 'Um, a lot.' Long then laughs," the charges allege. "Long then bursts out saying, 'Listen this guy threatened my … life and I'm scared."
Long allegedly told dispatchers that Ramirez pulled something from his waistband, "so I shot him."
"Dispatch replied, 'You shot him?' Long replies, 'Well this (guy) was threatening my life, he was telling me he was gonna kill me.' Dispatch said, 'I understand that but I need to know where did you shoot him?' Long said, 'I don't remember,'" according to the charges.
An autopsy showed Ramirez was shot eight times from a distance no further than 3 feet away. No weapons were found in his vehicle, according to investigators.
"(Long) made a conscious decision to escalate a simple traffic situation. (He) then exited his vehicle, went around to his passenger side, and fired 15 rounds at close range into the victim, who was unarmed," prosecutors wrote in the charges.
