A Soldotna man was arrested Wednesday after police say he pointed a gun at another motorist and fired multiple “warning” shots during a reported “road rage incident.”
Jeffrey Ackerman, 46, is charged with third-degree assault and fourth-degree misconduct involving weapons. Alaska State Troopers were called Wednesday morning and told he had pointed a gun at another motorist and fired it twice.
In an affidavit included with charging documents, the responding officer writes that a driver told police that Ackerman had been swerving in the road in a Toyota SUV and that Ackerman had “brake checked” him “a few times.” According to the driver, on Charlie Brown Drive, down Kalifornsky Beach Road south of Kenai and Soldotna, Ackerman pulled his car across the road so the driver could not pass. Ackerman yelled at the driver, but then pulled his car into a driveway, the affidavit says. When the driver attempted to pass, he saw Ackerman pointing a handgun and yelling “do you want some of this” before firing the gun behind the driver’s vehicle.
Ackerman told troopers, per the affidavit, that the driver had almost hit his car and that he’d “popped off a round” as a warning. He said that it was his right to do that, though the affidavit says the responding officers told him that he couldn’t shoot someone even if they had come onto his property. Troopers recovered the handgun and a memory card of a camera on a nearby property that might have recorded the encounter.
Ackerman was arraigned on Thursday, where he submitted a not guilty plea and was assigned a public defender. Bail was set at $5,000 and he is next scheduled for a court appearance on Sept. 29.
Reach reporter Jake Dye at jacob.dye@peninsulaclarion.com.
