Witnesses told detectives two motorists pulled over on an I-95 ramp before shots were exchanged.
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Jacksonville homicide detectives were searching Monday for the driver of a small silver SUV after a road-rage dispute spilled onto an Interstate 95 ramp, where police said both drivers got out with guns and one man was killed.
The investigation centers on a shooting Sunday night in the Lake Forest area of Northwest Jacksonville, where officers found a man dead after what police described as a gunfight between two motorists. The sheriff’s office said the remaining driver left the scene before police arrived, shifting the case from an on-scene homicide response to a wider search for a vehicle that detectives believe is key to explaining how the confrontation began and why it turned deadly.
According to the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office, the confrontation started as an argument between two drivers on Edgewood Avenue West. Investigators said the dispute continued until the vehicles reached the northbound ramp to I-95, where both came to a stop. Police said each driver then got out carrying a handgun. The exchange that followed lasted only moments but ended with one of the men collapsing from a gunshot wound to the chest. Officers were dispatched around 8:20 p.m. and found the victim at the scene. He was believed to be between his mid-30s and late 30s, though authorities had not released his identity by Monday morning.
Detectives said one of the strongest early leads comes from people who saw the confrontation and stayed behind to speak with police. Sgt. Steve Rudlaff of JSO’s homicide unit said witnesses saw the road-rage dispute develop and saw both vehicles pull over before the gunfire. That detail has helped detectives frame the shooting as the result of a direct confrontation between the two drivers, not a broader attack involving passing traffic. Police said no other vehicles were struck or drawn into the violence. Still unknown, however, is the exact sequence of the gunfire: investigators have not said who opened fire, whether either driver was hit more than once or whether the missing driver was wounded and drove off.
The location underscores how quickly a conflict on city streets can move into one of the region’s busiest traffic systems. Edgewood Avenue West feeds drivers toward I-95, a major north-south route through Jacksonville, and the ramp where the shooting happened serves as a regular connector for traffic moving through Northwest Jacksonville. When detectives described the case Monday, they emphasized that the danger to the public had passed and called the shooting isolated, but the setting remains a major part of the investigation. Officers are looking for camera footage that could show the SUV entering or leaving the area, and they are trying to match witness accounts to the road layout and timing of the emergency calls.
No suspect name, arrest affidavit or charging document had been released publicly by Monday morning. The sheriff’s office said investigators need to find the SUV driver before they can complete interviews, compare those statements with forensic evidence and determine what charges, if any, should follow. Detectives are also expected to review shell casings, vehicle positions and any roadway or business video that captures the stop on the ramp. The dead man’s identity had not yet been released, a sign that family notifications were still underway. Police also had not announced a planned briefing time beyond their early public description of the case.
The few words released so far painted a tense and compressed scene. Rudlaff’s description was blunt: “They got into a shootout.” Beyond that, much of the story still rests in fragments — witness memories, camera footage detectives hope to find and the unanswered account of the SUV driver who left. The search for that driver now sits at the center of the case. Until detectives locate that person, key questions about intent, self-defense claims and the final escalation on the ramp are likely to remain unresolved.
By Monday, the shooting was still being treated as an open homicide case, and detectives said the next turning point will come when the SUV driver is identified and interviewed. Any public release of the victim’s name, a warrant or criminal charge is expected to follow that step.
Author note: Last updated March 23, 2026.