ORINDA, Calif. – Authorities have identified the man who was shot following a heated road rage incident that sent shockwaves in Orinda.
The victim was identified as 50-year-old Scott Patrick Decker of Orinda.
The fatal shooting came following a rolling dispute that ended at Las Vegas Road and La Espiral, north of Highway 24, involving a Toyota 4Runner, driven by Decker, and a Tesla, shortly after 11 a.m.
The shooter, who was driving the Tesla, told police he shot Decker in self-defense after Decker blocked him with his SUV, got out and punched him.
The driver, only described as a 72-year-old man, was detained but not arrested.
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The Tesla driver lives a half-mile from the crime scene.
Decker’s father, Scott Decker told KTVU on Friday he had been estranged from his son but was saddened by his death.
“Too young, too fast,” he said. “He was a helluva kid. I hadn’t seen him in 10 years.”
He added, “It’s just sad, just so sad that such wasted talent.”
Asked about reports the other driver told police he had acted in self-defense, the father said, “I have no idea what Scott did, you know? He could be pretty aggressive at times, so I don’t know. But I’m going to let, I’ll let the cops figure that out, and I don’t even want to get involved in that.”
Neighbors tell KTVU Decker was engaged to be married and had been taking care of his fiancee’s children in Orinda.
On Friday, no one answered the door of the suspected shooter’s home. A man who answered the phone earlier in the day hung up when contacted by KTVU.
The scene Thursday had a large police presence, with officers from Lafayette, Moraga, and the Costa Contra County Sheriff’s Office responding, as homicides in the affluent city of 19,000 are seldom.
“I heard a loud bang and my first thought was, ‘OK, gun’ and then I thought, ‘No way.’ I thought maybe it was just like a tire blew,” Shawn James previously told KTVU following the shooting.
In 2019, a Halloween party in an Airbnb turned deadly when five people were killed and four others injured in a mass shooting.
Henry Lee is a KTVU crime reporter. E-mail Henry at Henry.Lee@fox.com and follow him on Twitter @henrykleeKTVU and www.facebook.com/henrykleefan