The Delaware State Police swiftly responded to the distressing situation on Halltown Road at approximately 6:22 p.m. that fateful evening.
In a tragic incident that unfolded on Saturday evening, a 53-year-old man named Michael Coffey
Hailing from Marydel, lost his life in a road rage-related shooting in Hartly.
At the scene, troopers encountered a harrowing sight: two vehicles had come to a halt in the westbound lane of Halltown Road, with Michael Coffey in the midst of the roadway, having sustained a gunshot wound.
Michael Coffey was urgently transported to a local hospital, where, regrettably, he succumbed to his injuries. His identity was officially confirmed by Delaware State Police on the subsequent Monday afternoon. Further investigation led detectives to identify the driver of the other vehicle involved, a 27-year-old resident of Henderson, Maryland. This individual had been operating his 1998 Nissan Frontier pickup truck aggressively on Halltown Road, nearly colliding with Michael Coffey’s vehicle prior to Coffey overtaking him.
Following a confrontation that ensued between the two men, witnesses intervened to diffuse the situation
Tragically, Michael Coffey returned to the other man’s vehicle to retrieve his hat and was subsequently shot. Authorities discovered that the firearm used in the incident had been stolen from a Florida sheriff‘s office in 2015 and that the shooting suspect was legally prohibited from possessing such a deadly weapon. He now faces a total of seven felony charges, including first-degree murder.
The 27-year-old aggressor was promptly apprehended by Delaware State Police and is presently detained at the Sussex Correctional Institution, with a substantial cash bond set at $1,084,000. Delaware State Police’s Homicide Unit is actively conducting a thorough investigation into the circumstances surrounding this tragic event, and anyone with pertinent information is strongly urged to contact Detective McDerby at 302-741-2821. Michael Coffey’s untimely demise serves as a somber reminder of the devastating consequences of road rage incidents.