PUNTA GORDA, Florida — A Monday-afternoon road-rage confrontation on the Tamiami Trail in Punta Gorda ended with gunfire aimed at a tyre, a white SUV left with bullet holes and a flat front tyre, and one driver in handcuffs. Stephan M. Clark, 65, of the Punta Gorda area, was arrested and charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon without intent to kill, the Charlotte County Sheriff's Office announced on Wednesday, October 28, 2026.
Source: Charlotte County Sheriff's Office
No one was injured in the incident, according to local television reporting from the scene, but Sheriff Bill Prummell used the arrest to deliver an unusually blunt public warning about drivers who reach for a gun in traffic — a warning the sheriff's office published in full alongside the arrest details.
What happened on the Tamiami Trail, shortly after 1 p.m. on October 26
Shortly after 1 p.m. on Monday, October 26, 2026, the Charlotte County Sheriff's Office received separate 911 calls from people involved in a road-rage incident in which a gun had been fired. Road Patrol deputies responded to the area of Tribune Boulevard and Tamiami Trail — the stretch of U.S. 41 that runs through Punta Gorda in Charlotte County, on Florida's Gulf Coast — and located both vehicles involved, a white SUV and a red pickup truck, and their respective drivers. The white SUV had observable bullet holes and a flat tyre, deputies said. Because firearms were involved, the sheriff's Major Case Unit was called in to investigate.
Detectives from the Major Case Unit interviewed each driver separately. Through that investigation, the sheriff's office said, it was determined that the driver of the white SUV, Stephan M. Clark, born April 18, 1961, had become upset because the red pickup truck in front of him was intentionally blowing thick black smoke. That produced an angry exchange and hand gestures between the two drivers, according to the sheriff's account.
The drawn gun, and the shot at the tyre
The sheriff's office said Clark then re-engaged the driver of the red pickup after the initial incident and pulled a gun from the holster in his waistband. That, detectives determined, prompted the other driver to pull his own firearm out of fear. The other driver fired at the front tyre of Clark's vehicle in an attempt to disable it so he could get away and call law enforcement — and, the sheriff's office noted, he specifically aimed at the tyre area to avoid hitting Clark.
The break in the case, investigators said, was detail. The other driver was able to describe in detail where Clark's firearm was on his person, its colour, and other details that could only be described by having seen it. That description contradicted Clark's own statement that he never drew his weapon during the incident. Based on the totality of the investigation, the sheriff's office said, Clark was placed under arrest. All of the conduct described by the sheriff's office remains an allegation until it is tested in court.
“If you are unable to control your emotions while driving, then you should stay off the roads. Everyone gets frustrated at times with traffic or the recklessness of individuals, but that is not a reason to escalate the situation by brandishing a firearm. This entire situation was avoidable, and it could have resulted in far worse consequences than an arrest. People need to take a minute and breathe before reaching for a gun. I am tired of irresponsible gun owners creating problems for everyone else.” — Sheriff Bill Prummell, Charlotte County Sheriff's Office
No charges for the other driver — for now
At this time there are no charges for the other driver, the sheriff's office said. However, the case has been turned over to the State Attorney's Office for further review, which means prosecutors — not deputies — will make the final decisions on the charges in the case, including whether the account of a defensive shot at a tyre is accepted as the full story. Clark was still being processed at the Charlotte County Jail at the time of the sheriff's release on Wednesday.
Source: WENG Radio, Englewood — local reporting, Oct. 28, 2026
Why a Punta Gorda traffic fight matters beyond one junction
The Tamiami Trail is not a quiet side road. U.S. 41 is the historic Tampa-to-Miami corridor and still carries a heavy mix of local commuters, tourists heading for Gulf Coast beaches, delivery traffic and long-haul trucks through Punta Gorda and neighbouring Port Charlotte. Charlotte County's population swells further in the winter months as seasonal residents arrive, putting more — and often unfamiliar — drivers onto the same junctions. For the Punjabi diaspora families and truck drivers who live and work across southwest Florida, and for any driver who uses U.S. 41 daily, the sheriff's point was practical rather than political: on a corridor this busy, a few seconds of anger, a hand gesture and a visible gun turned an argument about exhaust smoke into a felony arrest and shots fired in public.
What happens next
Clark's case now moves from the sheriff's office to the courts: he faces the single announced charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon without intent to kill, and the State Attorney's Office review will decide how the case is formally filed and whether any further charges follow for either driver. Readers should treat the sheriff's narrative as the investigating agency's account — Clark is entitled to the presumption of innocence, and his side of the October 26 confrontation has not yet been heard in court.