Driver with sawed-off shotgun fired randomly at vehicles on NC interstate, feds say
A 33-year-old man drove through North Carolina on Saturday shooting at cars from the window of his pickup truck, according to law enforcement.
Now he faces federal charges.
Franklin Joseph Dangerfield — from Ladson, South Carolina, near Charleston — was charged with one count of possessing an unregistered short-barrel shotgun after he led police on a high-speed chase over the Virginia border on Sept. 5, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of North Carolina said Thursday in a news release.
“I don’t know if it’s stupid or mean,” Nash County Sheriff Keith Stone said of Dangerfield’s possible motive during a news conference Sunday afternoon.
At least two people and one deputy were reportedly injured during the incident.
The shooting spree started just after Dangerfield crossed over the South Carolina border on Interstate 95 between the town of Roland and the city of Lumberton in North Carolina, according to federal court filings.
The Robeson County Sheriff’s Office reported a “black truck with ‘mud tires’ and four doors had shot at a vehicle on three separate occasions around 5 p.m.,” the criminal complaint states. “A shot hit the victim’s driver’s side window, causing a small hole in the driver’s side window around mile marker 11.”
Law enforcement didn’t catch up to Dangerfield until he reached Nash County, more than 100 miles north of where the first shots were fired on I-95.
The Nash County Sheriff’s Office received a 911 call at 6:47 p.m. about a man driving erratically and shooting at cars from a black pickup truck, according to court filings and the sheriff’s office. Deputies picked up the truck on I-95 near the Halifax County line and a high speed chase ensued, Stone said Sunday.
He told reporters the chase started around the 145 mile marker in North Carolina and continued through four counties before Dangerfield crossed into Virginia.
Dangerfield eventually wrecked at mile marker 11 near Emporia, Virginia, around 7:30 p.m., according to court filings.
His truck — which at times had been traveling at speeds of 100 to 110 mph — spun out of control and hit a median before partially overturning, Stone said. Law enforcement saw Dangerfield in the driver’s seat with “a loaded Savage Arms Springfield 67H 12-gauge shotgun in plain view on the front passenger seat,” prosecutors said.
The shotgun had reportedly been sawed off, making it a weapon of mass destruction.
Police found 17 shotgun shells — nine of which had been used — in the truck during a subsequent search, court filings state. They also found a hacksaw, a piece of wood from the stock of the shotgun, a pistol and a “bottle of unknown clear liquid.”
At least two drivers on I-95 were injured by Dangerfield’s gunfire, including one who was shot in the shoulder and had to be airlifted to East Carolina Medical Center for surgery, according to court filings and Sheriff Stone.
A second person was hit in the face with shattered glass and had to be treated for her injuries at a local hospital, the criminal complaint states.
“It’s a very, very scary situation and God was with these people last night,” Stone said Sunday.
Dangerfield was taken to a hospital in Virginia and kept overnight before he was turned over to Virginia State Police, according to court filings.
In addition to the federal charges, Dangerfield faces state charges in Virginia and North Carolina ranging from driving under the influence, reckless driving and assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury or with intent to kill, according to the Nash County Sheriff’s Office.
This story was originally published September 10, 2020 at 6:01 PM with the headline "Driver with sawed-off shotgun fired randomly at vehicles on NC interstate, feds say."
