Christopher Pelkey, 37, was killed in a road rage incident in Chandler, Arizona, on a Saturday afternoon in November 2021. Pelkey, a U.S. Army veteran, had stopped at a red light at Gilbert and Germann roads in a white pickup truck when a confrontation with the driver behind him escalated. The man behind him, identified as 50-year-old Gabriel Paul Horcasitas, fired a gun; Pelkey was struck, taken to a nearby hospital, and died of his injuries. A stray bullet hit a nearby vehicle carrying a family; none of that family were harmed.

Witnesses described the events at the scene and police took Horcasitas into custody. He was charged in connection with Pelkey’s death; subsequent trials produced a guilty verdict, a retrial, and ultimately a conviction for manslaughter. Horcasitas received a sentence of ten and a half years in prison. At sentencing Pelkey’s family used an AI-generated video of him delivering a victim impact statement, a digital recreation showing him speaking about forgiveness, which the family said gave them a measure of closure.

If anyone witnessed the November 2021 confrontation or has additional information about what led up to the shooting, please share what is known.