IONIA Mich. — There are still many questions after two men shot and killed each otherin an apparent road rage incident Wednesday night. Police say both the men had concealed pistol permits.
The shootout happened at 7 p.m. at the Wonder Wash Car Wash at the corner of the Nash and Steele Street near M-66.
Ionia Public Safety have identified the two men as James Pullum, 43, and Robert Taylor, 56.
Taylor was following Pullum on Steele Street, and that’s when Pullum pulled into the parking lot, said Ionia Detective Sgt. Cory McDiarmid. “When he noticed a vehicle that was very close to him, he pulled into the car wash to let the vehicle pass or to go about his business at the car wash. We’re really not certain at this point,” he said.
That’s when the two men got out of their cars and got into a verbal altercation before the shooting. Pullum had two people in the car with him. Friends say it was his mother and his wife.
Police say they have no evidence that indicates the men knew each other.
“We are still investigating what provoked this, where this incident started, whether it was on Steele Street when the actual road rage incidents took place or if there was something prior to it,” McDiarmid said.
Police records show taht Taylor was pulled over for operating while intoxicated back in 2006. Pullum was ticketed earlier this year for disobeying a traffic signal.
People we talked to who knew the men say they were good people and something like this was unexpected.
