MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – A man who state troopers say is a five-time convicted felon may end up a six-time convicted felon after authorities accused him of shooting into a car in an apparent road rage incident on a Miami-Dade expressway Thursday.
On Monday, police arrested 47-year-old Clarence James Fisher III, who lives in the Westview area of northwest Miami-Dade, on multiple charges, including attempted murder.
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According to a Florida Highway Patrol arrest report, the victim told troopers that he attempted to make a lane change as he was driving west on Northwest 119th Street, near 32nd Avenue, just after 11 a.m.
The man told troopers that he thought the coast was clear, but as he made the lane change, he saw a white Volkswagen with dark windows pull up beside him — and the man behind the wheel was not happy.
The driver, later identified as Fisher, had the window rolled down and was yelling profanities, the report states.
The victim told troopers that he accelerated onto the Gratigny Parkway in fear for his life. But, according to the report, Fisher would soon turn words into violence.
As the victim and his two passengers approached Northwest 42nd Avenue, troopers wrote that he “observed the front passenger side window down of the suspect vehicle and a clear unobstructed view of the driver holding a black firearm with an extended magazine and aiming the firearm directly toward (him).”
He then “observed a muzzle flash from the firearm” and heard a “loud bang,” troopers said.
“In fear for his and his family’s life, he slowed his vehicle down. (The man) realized that he and his family in the vehicle were not struck,” troopers wrote.
Troopers said Fisher later got away and the victim later noticed damage to his vehicle’s A-pillar.
Investigators said they were able to identify Fisher through toll gantry records and said his photograph matched the description of the suspect.
Authorities placed him under arrest “without incident” Monday and he confessed to the shooting, troopers said.
Fisher’s prior rap sheet includes convictions for cocaine possession, fraud and grand theft, according to court records.
He now faces nine additional felony counts: three counts of attempted murder, three counts of aggravated assault with a firearm, one count of discharging a firearm from a vehicle, one count of shooting or throwing a deadly missile and one count of felon in possession of a firearm.
Fisher also faced a misdemeanor charge of improper exhibition of a firearm and was being held without bond at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center as of Tuesday afternoon.