A Columbus man is facing a second-degree felony charge after authorities say he fired a handgun at a semi-truck during a road rage confrontation on US Route 30 in Vermillion Township Thursday morning. Frank Andrew King II, 34, was taken into custody by Ohio State Highway Patrol troopers hours after the shooting and now faces one count of felonious assault in Ashland County Common Pleas Court.
According to ashlandcountypictures.com, the Ohio State Highway Patrol released the names of both drivers involved in the incident, which happened around 8:50 a.m. near eastbound US 30 at State Route 60. Investigators say King was driving a 2018 Nissan Altima in the right lane when he became involved in an altercation with 53-year-old John S. Nervo Jr. of Canton, who was driving a 1992 Peterbilt semi-truck in the left lane. The dispute reportedly began with hand gestures exchanged between the two drivers before escalating.
The outlet's report states that King brandished a Taurus G2c 9mm handgun and fired a single round at the semi-truck, striking the passenger-side door. The two vehicles separated afterward without further contact, and the patrol said no one was injured in the incident.
How Troopers Tracked Down the Shooter
The Ashland Post and Wooster Post, which cover the stretch of highway running through Ashland and Wayne counties, both responded to reports of the shooting, per the same account. Highway patrol units located the Nissan Altima traveling eastbound on US 30 in Wooster and took King into custody there before transporting him to the Ashland County Jail. The Ashland County Sheriff's Office and the Wayne County Sheriff's Office also assisted in the response, the report notes.
US 30 stretches 245.69 miles across northern Ohio, linking Richland, Ashland and Wayne counties as a major east-west commercial corridor, according to the Ohio Department of Transportation. That cross-county geography is why the response required coordination between the Ashland Post, designated Post 3, and the Wooster Post, designated Post 85, according to the Ohio State Highway Patrol.
Charges and What King Faces in Court
A criminal complaint filed Friday, identified as case 26-CRI-174, alleges King knowingly caused or attempted to cause physical harm to Nervo and identifies the weapon as a Taurus G2c 9mm handgun, the same outlet's report states. The felonious assault charge is brought under Ohio Revised Code Section 2903.11(A)(2). The handgun named in the filing features a 3.2-inch barrel, a polymer frame and a standard double-stack magazine capacity of 12 rounds, according to Academy Sports specifications for the model.
Felonious assault as a second-degree felony in Ohio carries a prison term ranging from two to eight years and a fine of up to $15,000 upon conviction, according to Zukerman Law. Because the alleged offense falls under Ohio's Reagan Tokes Law, which applies to qualifying first- and second-degree felonies committed after March 2019, a judge would be required to impose an indefinite sentence with a maximum term set at 50 percent longer than the minimum, per Court News Ohio. The Ohio Supreme Court upheld that sentencing framework in a 5-2 ruling in July 2023, affirming that prison officials may hold inmates up to their maximum indefinite term for rule violations behind bars. Separately, Ohio law under Revised Code Section 2923.16 makes knowingly discharging a firearm from inside a motor vehicle its own felony offense, a provision that could carry additional legal exposure in cases like this one.
Bond Hearing Set for Next Week
King is scheduled for a bond hearing Monday at 11 a.m., to be conducted over Zoom video and heard by Magistrate Paul T. Lange of Ashland County Common Pleas Court. Lange serves alongside Magistrate Emily M. Bates under Judge David R. Stimpert in that court. As with any defendant, King is presumed innocent unless proven guilty.
The shooting is the latest in a string of road rage gun incidents reported across Ohio in recent weeks. Hoodline has covered a Springdale I-275 shooting two days earlier, a Hamilton teen's indictment over shots fired at a truck carrying a pregnant woman, a fatal Marion County road rage clash involving an Amazon van, and the sentencing of a Columbus man convicted in a deadly I-670 road rage killing. Nationally, Everytown for Gun Safety documented 483 people shot in road rage incidents in 2023, resulting in 118 deaths, and a more recent analysis found 883 firearm-involved road rage incidents in 2025 that left 114 people dead, underscoring how often armed confrontations erupt on American highways.
