INDIANAPOLIS — Court records reveal how a case of road rage left one man dead and another man accused of murder on Indy’s east side.
According to an eyewitness, the victim was sitting in the passenger seat of his coworker’s car when they were nearly hit by a box truck.
The witness describes how the victim, Eli Hickerson, “threw his arms out the window like what the heck.” That simple gesture got him killed.
The shooting took place Monday night along I-70 near Post Road.
“You know Eli was such a great guy and he deserved so much better than this,” said the victim’s friend Dustin Gray.
Dustin describes Eli as a good friend with a fun-loving personality.
“He always thought he was the funniest person in the world, which made us laugh because he was laughing at himself,” said Gray.
Hickerson had gotten off work from a trucking business on Indy’s south side and was riding home when he was shot.
Indiana State Police said 911 dispatchers received information that the victim was being driven from the scene of the shooting to a medical facility near I-70 and Mt. Comfort Road in Hancock County. Upon arrival, medical personnel from the facility came outside and attempted life-saving measures on the victim. Unfortunately, the male was pronounced deceased a short time after arrival.
State police claim Eli’s killer was driving a white box truck with a company logo on the door and exited on Post Road.
Court records show police used that information to track down 22-year-old Dion Kimbrough at the business, where two coworkers who were riding with the suspect admitted to police that Kimbrough fired the fatal shots.
“In recent years we’ve seen road rage leading to gunfire and that’s not a trend we’d seen before,” said Indiana State Police Sgt. John Perrine.
Sgt. Perrine said so far this year state troopers around Indianapolis have investigated 37 interstate shootings. That matches last year’s pace when there were 65 interstate shootings for the year.
“It’s not uncommon, almost every day for us to get a 911 call of someone pointing a firearm in a road rage incident,” said Perrine. “Please don’t engage in any road rage because it’s leading to significant violence and people are losing their lives.”
Court documents also claim Kimbrough was wearing a GPS monitor stemming from a previous conviction for armed robbery. That GPS confirmed his location along I-70 at the time of the shooting but left the victim’s friends wondering if the killing could have been avoided.
“You know he didn’t have the greatest record. We don’t know why he was out on the streets and able to do what he did,” said Gray.
While Kimbrough denied taking part in the shooting, state police claim his own mother allegedly explained that, “He broke a promise to remain free from legal trouble after his prior arrest and imprisonment.”
Kimbrough is being held without bond at the Marion County jail.
