Wesley Chapel Driver Speaks Out After Gunman Fires 9 Shots Into His Truck on State Road 56

A Wesley Chapel man says another driver pointed a gun out a car window and fired nine rounds at his truck early Friday morning, Sept. 11, after a brief roadside confrontation on State Road 56 near Meadow Pointe Boulevard, a stretch of road thousands of local drivers use every day. No one was hurt. No arrest has been made, and the shooter is still out there.

Wesley Coons, 23, told local media he had just dropped off friends who had been at a Luke Bryan concert at MidFlorida Credit Union Amphitheater and was driving east on State Road 56 when he noticed a sedan drifting into the bike lane. He rolled down his window to check on the driver. That's when things went bad.

Coons says the other driver took offense, shined a green laser at him, then produced a gun. He tried to get away by making a U-turn. That's when the shooting started.

"I'm ducking, and it was loud," Coons said, describing the moment to reporters. "My ears were ringing and all I could hear was rounds hitting my truck."

Pasco County deputies recovered nine shell casings at the scene. Coons says his truck took seven hits, including one round that punched through the fender and another that traveled clean through the vehicle before lodging in a headlight. After the shooting, Coons says he found a deputy nearby and reported what had happened.

The Pasco County Sheriff's Office has not said whether it is treating the shooting as road rage. As of Saturday's report, no one had been taken into custody, and the case remains open.

A road residents use constantly

State Road 56 and Meadow Pointe Boulevard sit in one of the busiest parts of Wesley Chapel, close to neighborhoods, schools and the corridor that funnels concertgoers to and from the amphitheater on big show nights. Coons says he is grateful to be alive, but he is still struggling to sleep and does not feel comfortable driving back through that intersection.

The Sheriff's Office says the investigation is ongoing. It has not released a description of the sedan or the driver, and it has not said whether detectives have identified a suspect. For now, the man who fired nine rounds into a stranger's truck on a road Wesley Chapel families drive every day remains unidentified and unarrested.

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