JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The sister of a truck driver shot and killed on the side of Interstate 10 on Saturday after an apparent road rage incident is calling the other truck driver wanted in the killing a coward.
Jacksonville police said 44-year-old George Guerrero, from New Jersey, was shot just before 2 p.m. on I-10 eastbound west of Chaffee Road.
Homicide detectives said the shooting took place after the shooter's vehicle started tailgating Guerrero's tractor-trailer, which had moved to left lane to avoid construction. When Guerrero moved back into the right lane, an orange semi pulled alongside and appeared to bump the victim’s rig. The victim's truck then veered off the highway and drove into the woods. Police said Guerrero was shot as the second semi passed him.
When Guerrero was found dead in the cab of his semi, the Florida Highway Patrol was called believing the crash resulted in a traffic fatality. Troopers called the JSO when it turned into a homicide investigation.
Police describe the shooter as a black man with a beard driving an early 2000s/mid 2000s dull orange Century or Columbia Freightliner cab pulling a 53-foot white trailer.
“I think he’s a coward. I think he is disgusting," Guerrero's sister, Malissa Kunz, said. "He has sickened and hurt this entire family. He took someone that was loved, cared about, that loved people, loved life and he needs to turn himself in and face the fact the he killed somebody.”
The Florida Highway Patrol has issued an alert to other law enforcement agencies along I-10 and I-95 north and south and alerted commercial vehicle weigh stations in the area. The big rig may have damage to the passenger side.
If a truck fails to stop at a weigh station, that's a red flag and either FHP or Florida Department of Motor Vehicles enforcement officers will track them down.
Trooper Larry Favors is a commercial vehicle enforcement officer and focuses on big rigs. He said looking for a particular long-haul rig is like looking for a needle in a haystack. And because truckers are a community, you proceed cautiously when asking for information.
“I’s all in the way you approach the driver," Favors said. "You just kind of talk. Sometimes they leave their CB radios on. You can hear. They don’t know they’re leaving their radios on.”
Anyone with any information reference this homicide is asked to contact the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office at 904-630-0500 or email us at JSOCrimeTips@jaxsheriff.org. To remain anonymous and receive a possible reward up to $3,000 contact Crime Stoppers at 1-866-845-TIPS.