NORRISTOWN — A Philadelphia man faces up to four years of court supervision for firing a gun into another vehicle, injuring an Upper Providence Township man, during an apparent road rage incident on Route 309 in Whitemarsh Township.
Keith Anthony Choice, 34, of the 4000 block of Bleigh Avenue, was sentenced in Montgomery County Court to 6 to 23 months in the county jail on a charge of aggravated assault in connection with the January 2019 shooting incident.
Judge Thomas P. Rogers convicted Choice of the felony charge during a nonjury trial at which Choice stipulated to the allegations contained in a criminal complaint filed by state police at Philadelphia.
The judge said Choice is eligible for the jail’s work release program while serving the sentence.
The judge also ordered Choice to complete two years’ probation following parole, meaning Choice will be under court supervision for about four years.
Choice also must complete an anger management counseling program.
The judge ordered Choice to have no contact with the man who suffered a gunshot wound to his arm during the incident. Additionally, Choice must pay $3,211 restitution to the victim as a condition of the sentence.
The investigation began about 9:58 p.m. Jan. 23, 2019, when state police at Philadelphia were dispatched to the Fort Washington toll plaza of the Pennsylvania Turnpike where the victim reported he had parked after being shot while driving northbound on Route 309 in Whitemarsh, according to the criminal complaint.
The victim, who resided in the Mont Clare section of Upper Providence, reported that he suffered a gunshot wound to his upper right arm and that when he got out of his Toyota Tundra pickup truck a single, copper-jacketed .380-caliber bullet fell to the ground, according to the criminal complaint filed by state police Trooper Eugene Tray of the Philadelphia barracks.
“(The victim) added that at no time was he involved in a road rage dispute, argument, or other negative altercation with anyone on the date of this incident,” Tray wrote in the arrest affidavit.
The victim was treated at a nearby hospital for the wound.
When police examined the victim’s vehicle they observed a small entrance hole with an upward trajectory in the center of the front passenger side door. The entrance hole was consistent with the size of the bullet recovered on the victim’s person at the turnpike toll plaza, police said.
Based on accounts provided by the victim and another witness on the roadway, police determined that the victim was traveling northbound on Route 309 in the left lane when he made a lane change to the right so he could exit onto the turnpike, causing Choice’s vehicle, a dark “box shape” sedan, onto the right shoulder, according to the criminal complaint.
Choice allegedly passed the victim’s vehicle on the right shoulder and fired a gunshot at the victim’s vehicle.
“Thus, it is probable that Choice was enraged by the victim’s driving actions, causing him to open fire directly at the victim who was innocently driving his vehicle,” Tray alleged.
The victim initially followed the shooter’s vehicle but eventually lost sight of the shooter’s vehicle as it exited Route 309 at Highland Avenue, police said. The victim turned around and drove to the Fort Washington toll plaza to wait for police and medical responders.
During a lengthy investigation, police obtained Google Map and cellphone data that helped develop Choice as a suspect in the shooting. Police alleged location data placed Choice’s cellphone in the area of the shooting at the time it occurred.
The shooting had been reported by several media outlets and when police checked Google internet searches conducted by Choice a day after the shooting they found several incriminating searches including, “Shooting on 309 PA” and searches for news articles related to the incident, according to court documents.
“These internet searches demonstrate that Choice had an unexplainable interest in the ongoing investigation. Going so far as to query his own name amongst Philadelphia’s most wanted fugitives as well as the location of the victim’s hometown,” Tray alleged.
“The timing of these Google searches made by Choice in relation to the shooting is not merely a coincidence, rather it was done in an effort by Choice to determine if he had successfully eluded law enforcement detection and to check on the status of the investigation,” Tray added.
Court documents indicate that on Jan. 18, 2022, three years after the incident, police filed an arrest warrant for Choice and he was taken into custody about a month later.
With the aggravated assault charge, prosecutors alleged Choice attempted to cause or intentionally or knowingly caused bodily injury to the victim with a deadly weapon.
A charge of terroristic threats was withdrawn by prosecutors against Choice.
