What started as a tense encounter on the US-64 bypass near Pittsboro ended with a traffic stop, a recovered handgun and a Wilmington man in custody after a reported road-rage shooting near Exit 385. Authorities say no one was hurt and have identified the driver as 22-year-old James Hunter Routh of Wilmington.
According to WTVD, deputies were called out around 6 p.m. Thursday after a driver reported that someone in another vehicle had fired at them on the bypass near Exit 385. Siler City police later spotted the suspect vehicle, pulled it over and waited as Chatham County deputies arrived to take the driver into custody.
The stop and the recovered weapon
Per the Chatham County Sheriff’s Office, deputies recovered a handgun from the vehicle during the stop and arrested the driver at the scene. The agency reported that no injuries were linked to the incident.
Routh faces one count of misdemeanor assault by pointing a gun, one count of misdemeanor carrying a concealed weapon and a misdemeanor open-container violation, local reporting shows. He was booked into the Chatham County Detention Center, given an unsecured bond and is scheduled to appear in Pittsboro District Court on May 27, 2026, according to WTVD.
Road-rage risks in the Triangle
Road-rage shootings have rattled communities across the Triangle in recent years. In July 2025, a 5-year-old was shot during a Cary road-rage incident, underscoring how quickly a traffic spat can spiral into violence, according to WRAL. Law-enforcement officials have repeatedly urged drivers to back off, cool down and call 911 instead of trying to handle confrontations themselves - "the only appropriate response to road rage is no response," a Wake County official told WRAL.
Anyone with information about Thursday’s US-64 incident is asked to contact the Chatham County Sheriff’s Office at (919) 542-2811 or submit tips through the agency’s website, the Chatham County Sheriff’s Office.
