On August 30th, truck driver Tim Kepner was involved in an incident on Interstate 24 in Coffee County, Tennessee and discharged one round from a firearm towards a vehicle that was following him. After being called to the scene, police found a Taurus 9 mm pistol in his truck and arrested the driver.
Now, a week after the incident, LiveTrucking.com has obtained new information from a friend of Kepner’s, who spoke to the driver behind bars.
An email written by the wife of Kepner’s close friend reads as follows:
My husband (who is a former co-worker/truck driver) is close friends with Mr. Kepner and received a phone call from him from the jail. We knew Tim would not just shoot at someone for no reason. He told my husband that he passed a car on the interstate like he would normally do, then the car kept coming up next to him, then cutting in front of him, then driving erratically. Tim said he tried to speed ahead to get away from the car, even getting up to 80 – 85 mph, but the car kept speeding up to him. Tim called another truck driver on the CB who was driving in the same vicinity and asked for the truck driver’s help. The other driver tried to block the car and let Tim pass, but the car got passed him and sped up again, catching up to Tim as he went off an exit to get away from them. They pulled up beside him again and stopped. Tim said he heard a “pop” and believed someone in the car was shooting at his truck. That’s when he was in fear of his life.
Kepner was arrested on charges of attempted criminal homicide and reckless endangerment. He is scheduled to appear in court in Coffee County, Tennessee on Monday, September 11th.
The family friend added that Kepner is not a violent person and that his actions were driven by fear.
“We know this gentleman and he has never been in trouble. No violence whatsoever,” she said.
“There were no injuries to the occupants of the car. No windows were broken out. Only one shot was fired to scare them off. He was scared,” she added.