*A 53-year-old African-American woman in Ohio was fatally gunned down by a white man after they were involved in a traffic accident that was caused when he ran a red light.
Deborah Pearl, of Twinsberg, Ohio, was crossing the intersection at Solon and Richmond en route to work when 29-year-old Matthew Ryan Desha ran a red light and hit her Ford Taurus with his Jeep, according to Cleveland.com.
The collision caused Desha’s Jeep to flip multiple times while Pearl’s car was shoved into the intersection. As Pearl got out to inspect her car, Desha emerged from his Jeep with a 5.56mm high-powered assault rifle. Seeing the weapon, Pearl quickly put her hands up but Desha inexplicably opened fire, according to the police.
A witness who called 911 said Pearl, a mother of three, was shot 12 times. Police arrived to find Pearl on the ground bleeding to death. She died after paramedics took her to University Hospitals Bedford Medical Center, the Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner’s Office said.
Desha was found near the site and arrested without incident. He is being charged with murder and will appear Monday in Bedford Municipal Court. His bond is set at $1 million.
The North Ridgeville Police Department noted in their report that Desha is a U.S. Marine Corps veteran who suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder and has dealt with mental health issues in the years since his discharge.
The shooting incident comes two months after police charged Desha with one felony count of carrying a concealed weapon and one misdemeanor account of possession of drug paraphernalia. A search of his car recovered a 9mm handgun, three additional magazines, straws with suspected drug residue and other contraband.
Desha was also accused of fleeing the scene of drunken driving crash that he caused in 2007.
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