A road rage driver has been jailed for life for fatally shooting a 13-year-old after the youngster’s mother pulled over for an emergency services vehicle.
Jeremy Webster, 27, murdered Vaughn Bigelow Jr after following Meghan Bigelow as she was driving her three sons to a dentist appointment in Westminster, Colorado in 2018.
Webster was convicted of 12 counts, including first-degree murder and numerous counts of attempted murder and assault.
The judge in the case sentenced him to life without parole for the first-degree murder charge and 48 years for each of another six counts, which will run consecutive to each other and to the life sentence, according to 9News.
Prosecutors in the case had called the shooting “intentional and deliberate”, while his defence lawyers told the court that he had suffered mental health issues since he was young.
He had pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity when his trial began on 12 April.
“As Vaughn Bigelow Jr had his hands up cowering in fear Mr Webster placed firmly the barrel of that gun to the child’s head and pulled the trigger ending his life,” said Chief Deputy District Attorney Jennifer Prince in closing arguments. “It doesn’t get more intentional and deliberate than that.”
“He pulled the trigger until there were no more bullets,” she added.
Meghan Bigelow testified that she had attempted to move into Webster’s lane because of the emergency vehicle behind her.
She told the jury that Webster screamed at her then followed her to the parking lot where he pulled out a gun and shot Ms Bigelow and two of her children.
“Because of what the verdict was today, this part can kind of be closed, but that doesn’t mean we’ll ever get Bubba (Vaughn Bigelow Jr ) back,” she told the judge after the verdict.
“There’s things that we have to go through still. Every day. The biggest one still is Bubba’s not here.”
