Man says he’s grateful to be alive after alleged road rage shooting

CAMPBELL COUNTY, Ky. (WXIX/Gray News) - A man in Kentucky said he is lucky after surviving an alleged road rage incident last week.

Todd Darrell said the suspect, Ryan Gunter, shot at him while driving past a storage facility. Gunter has since claimed the shooting was in self-defense, but Darrell said that wasn’t the case.

“I kept thinking, I should be dead,” Darrell told WXIX on Tuesday.

Darrell said he drove around Gunter before he followed him into a nearby gas station.

According to Darrell, Gunter tried to lure him over.

“Threatened to beat me up for going around him,” Darrell said. “He said all kinds of horrible stuff and tried to get me to go over.”

Darrell said he held it together and went back to his car. But as he was driving away, he saw Gunter outside.

“Waited for me to get there, jumped out of his car, ran out to the side of the road, and took a shot at my driver’s side window,” Darrell said.

Darrell said he was terrified. He said he leaned down in the seat and pressed the gas pedal to the floor.

“I heard a shot, and my first reaction was, ‘Did he hit me?’” he said.

Darrell and his truck escaped unscathed, but he was shaken up afterward.

“I’ve still been struggling with it honestly,” he said. “I told my wife I might even need to go to a psychiatrist.”

Darrell was able to get the license plate of the other car and called the Campbell County Police Department, which posted pictures on social media to identify the shooter.

Court documents obtained by WXIX showed Gunter had called police and admitted he’d fired the shot. However, he said the action was done in self-defense.

Surveillance video showed Gunter not appearing to be in danger at the time of the incident, according to those court documents.

“It opened my eyes that people are crazy, and I’m going to walk away from everything from here on out,” Darrell said. “God was looking out for me. That’s all I can say.”

Authorities said Gunter has been charged with wanton endangerment, a crime involving conduct that can be considered wrongful and reckless.

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