A dispute that started on Scottsdale's Loop 101 ended with a man dead near 87th Street and Cactus Road on Tuesday afternoon, after the two drivers pulled over and shots were fired. Police say the man accused in the shooting, 43-year-old William E. McGinty, didn't flee the scene — he called 911 himself.
The shooting happened around 2:20 p.m. Tuesday following what authorities described as a reported road-rage encounter on the Loop 101, according to FOX 10 Phoenix. Scottsdale police said McGinty and the victim stopped near 87th Street and Cactus Road when gunfire broke out. The victim was rushed to a hospital, where he later died, and authorities had not released his identity.
McGinty waited in his car at the scene and complied when Scottsdale Police Department officers arrived and took him into custody, according to KTAR News 92.3 FM. Police said he remained at the scene and called 911 to report the shooting himself, and that responding officers detained him before he was arrested, per the Fox 10 account. He was booked into jail on suspicion of second-degree murder.
Conflicting Details on How the Victim Was Found
Accounts of the scene differ on exactly how the victim was discovered. KTAR's reporting says he was found lying face down on the roadway with at least one gunshot wound, while Arizona's Family reported he was found lying face up and had been shot in his chest and back, according to Arizona's Family. Neither detail has been independently reconciled in the available reporting.
Arizona's Family also reported that traffic-camera footage reviewed by investigators showed no aggressive driving behavior by either motorist — a detail that stands in contrast to McGinty's own account. According to an arrest report cited by the same KTAR story, McGinty said he had to defend himself against a person who was road raging at him. Bond for McGinty was set at $1 million, per Arizona's Family's reporting, and the Maricopa County Attorney's Office is expected to review the case and make the final charging decision.
A Similar Scottsdale Case Still Working Through Court
This isn't the first time a Scottsdale road-rage shooting has drawn scrutiny from prosecutors over what actually happened in the moments before a gun was fired. In a separate case, defense attorney David Appleton fatally shot 50-year-old Paul Pearson following an argument in a CVS parking lot, with Pearson dying on the way to the hospital after Appleton called police, according to Phoenix New Times. The Maricopa County Attorney's Office said it had asked Scottsdale police for additional investigation before making a final charging decision in that case, and the second-degree murder charge against Appleton was ultimately dropped.
The Phoenix New Times report also noted that Scottsdale police had determined Appleton was the aggressor in two earlier road-rage incidents he had reported during the preceding year, a detail that shaped how investigators and prosecutors evaluated his self-defense claim. It's unclear how closely McGinty's case will mirror that outcome, since the county attorney's review here is only beginning.
What Arizona Law Requires for a Self-Defense Claim
Under Arizona law, deadly physical force can be justified only when a person would already be justified in using physical force under a related statute, and when a reasonable person in that situation would believe deadly force is immediately necessary to protect against someone else's use or attempted use of unlawful deadly physical force, according to Arizona Legislature, A.R.S. § 13-405. That statutory language does not by itself determine whether McGinty's actions meet that standard — that determination will fall to investigators and prosecutors as the case moves forward.
