Man who shot driver on I-4 says he thought he was someone else

TAMPA, Fla. — Hillsborough County sheriff's deputies have made an arrest in the fatal shooting of a man driving on Interstate 4.

Investigators in Tampa said the man who shot an Orlando man thought he was someone else.

Fred Turner Jr., 47, called 911 to report someone following him on I-4 minutes before he was fatally shot Saturday afternoon.

The incident happened around 3 p.m. in the eastbound lanes of I-4 at the I-75 overpass in Tampa, officials said.

Turner said in the 911 call the driver had pulled up alongside him and flashed a handgun, authorities said.

Turner told dispatchers that the incident started at North 50th Street and East Columbus Drive, officials said.

The victim also said he was getting on the interstate to head to Orlando.

Deputies arrested Jerome Hayes, 48, of St. Cloud Monday and said Hayes shot and killed Turner.

Hayes is being held in the Hillsborough County Jail without bond.

Hayes told investigators he thought Turner was someone else he had gotten into a fight with at a strip club.

While still on the phone with dispatchers, Turner was shot and killed by Hayes, according to investigators.

The victim told dispatchers he didn't know why he was being followed.

"The caller stated that he had done nothing to cause someone to follow him," Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Debbie Carter said.

After the shooting, Turner pulled over on the side of I-4 and the gunman fled.

Turner was pronounced dead at the scene, officials said. He was an Orlando resident who resided in the Lake Buena Vista area, according to officials.

Interstate 4 was shut down for eight hours after the shooting.

Investigators said Hayes turned himself and his vehicle in Monday morning.

Hayes' neighbors didn't want to be identified, but said he's lived in the neighborhood for about a year. They said he moved to be closer to his kids and grandkids.

"You see how close our houses are, he'd come over here, mow our grass, and [we] used to give him a glass of water. Guy was great," a neighbor said about Hayes.

Hayes is registered as a felon in Osceola County following an arrest in Polk County for failure to maintain scrap metal records at his business.

Police are talking to one other person who was in the Hayes' vehicle.

WFTV