NASHVILLE, Tenn (WTVF) — Family and friends are still mourning the death of Kerry Willerton who was shot and killed in an apparent road rage incident last month. So far, no one has been arrested for the crime.
The Hendersonville man was shot on June 1 on I-65 north between the Trinity Lane exit and the I-24 split. He died at a Hendersonville hospital days later.
Kerry Willerton, 46, told his girlfriend, Julia Waters, that he was involved in a road rage incident in Nashville and had been shot with what he thought was an airsoft gun.
"We’re still affected sadly, but we're also more upset that the situation that the murderer hasn't been caught yet," said Waters, "It's really been bothering me. I will never get him back."
She said Willerton declined to seek medical treatment, believing his injury would get better. Waters found Willerton unresponsive the next day and called for an ambulance.
Waters says Kerry's car was in a fender bender. She says a few scratches on the bumper of his car cost him his life.
"He didn't deserve the way he got put out and some soon, but it's been hard for us to deal with."
Waters and Kerry's good friend Felicia King have been handing out flyers with a description of the pickup truck involved in the crime.
They say police have a name of a suspect but so far, no arrest.
"There are cameras where it happened, but they don't, they weren't even on, like they don't record on the highway. using what's already in place. If that was an option, you know would be great," said King.
A new state will give law enforcement use to surveillance cameras on federal interstates could help.
Another recent state law increases the penalties for people shooting a gun from inside a vehicle is now a Class C felony. Before, it was a Class A misdemeanor offense.
Waters says she hopes more laws can help prevent this from happening to another family
"I don't like to live in fear, especially like in my town."
According to Metro Nashville Police, calls of shots being fired involving two men on the side of I-65 north came in at 3:19 p.m. June 1.
Both parties had driven away before officers arrived. Willerton told his girlfriend that his vehicle was struck in the rear by a white pickup truck and that the driver had shot him.
Witnesses describe the white truck as possibly a Chevrolet with four doors, tinted windows, a wench on the front bumper, and bearing a specialty license plate that might include an American flag emblem.
The driver of the pickup truck is described as an older thin white man with graying hair and a beard.
Anyone with information about the white pickup truck is asked to contact Crime Stoppers at 615-742-7463. Homicide Detective Derry Baltimore is leading this investigation.
