Man charged with murder after being accused of road rage incident on SR-201
SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — A man has been charged by the Salt Lake County District Attorney's Office for an alleged road rage murder that took place earlier this month.
Thomas Jim Long, 44, was formally charged in the Third District Court on Thursday afternoon with one count of murder, a first-degree felony, eight counts of felony discharge of a firearm with serious bodily injury, and six counts of felony discharge of a firearm.
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The incident happened Monday, Oct. 7, and shut down SR-201 eastbound between West Valley City and South Salt Lake for several hours while authorities investigated the scene.
"Initial reports indicated that a black truck and a gray SUV were involved in a road rage altercation between I-215 West and the 900 West off-ramp, resulting in both vehicles colliding," Utah Highway Patrol said.
Investigators retrieved dashcam footage from a witness that allegedly showed both Long and 50-year-old Jose R. Ramirez were involved. Long is alleged to have cut off Ramirez and crashed into him on multiple occasions before ultimately crashing into the concrete barrier.
Investigators also obtained the 911 call made by Long to police dispatch. When dispatch asked if the two were injured, Long allegedly said "Uh he is ... a lot."
Charges allege that Long fired "multiple shots" at Ramirez, which resulted in 15 shell casings being recovered from the scene. Ramirez was found unresponsive inside the truck. He died at the scene. Long claimed that he was protecting himself and that Ramirez threatened to kill him.
An autopsy determined that he suffered multiple fatal close-range gunshot wounds as eight bullets were recovered from Ramirez's body. No weapons were found on Ramirez.
"The defendant made a conscious decision to escalate a simple traffic situation. The defendant then exited his vehicle, went around to his passenger side, and fired 15 rounds at close range into the victim, who was unarmed," documents say.
Long is currently listed on the Salt Lake County jail roster and is being held without bail.
