A road-rage encounter ended in a fatal shooting in a Charlotte grocery store parking lot on the afternoon of Thursday, February 19, 2026. Sean Brandon Mason, 38, was shot around 4:30 p.m. in the Food Lion parking lot on The Plaza near East W.T. Harris Boulevard after a dispute that reportedly began when Mason drove recklessly and attempted to pass another driver multiple times.

According to investigators and court records, the other driver, 55-year-old James Calvin Rothwell Jr., had warned a sheriff’s deputy about Mason’s driving before pulling into the lot to drop off his girlfriend. Mason followed Rothwell into the parking lot and pulled up beside him; an altercation and heated argument followed. Rothwell told investigators Mason made a gesture as if he had a weapon, though Rothwell said he never actually saw a gun. Rothwell fired several shots; Mason was struck, fled and crashed into a nearby building, and later died of his injuries. Multiple vehicles in the lot were struck by bullets; a 75-year-old woman’s car was hit but she was not injured.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police arrested Rothwell and charged him with Mason’s murder and three counts of discharging a weapon into an occupied vehicle. If anyone witnessed the confrontation in the parking lot or has relevant information, please come forward.