Two brothers in Missouri were charged Tuesday with allegedly shooting a man in front of his four young children in a road-rage encounter, authorities said.
Nicholas Marino, 27, is charged with first-degree assault and armed criminal action. Joseph Marino, 24, his brother, is charged with unlawful use of a weapon.
Joseph was driving through St. Louis County on Monday while his brother was in the passenger seat of a Mitsubishi GTS when they got into a road-rage situation with another man, Scott Thomas, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.
They saw Thomas, 46, pull over and take down their vehicle’s license plate number, prompting them to pull over as well, prosecutors said. Joseph Marino allegedly pointed a gun at Thomas while Nicholas allegedly got out and fired three shots at him, wounding him in the chest and side.
Thomas was taken to a hospital with non-life threatening injuries, KSDK-TV reported.
Thomas, a barbecue aficionado with a large social media following, was with his children, ages 11, 9, 6 and 3 years old. They were in the car and were unharmed.
The brothers were stopped by police shortly after for allegegedly using the shoulder of the road to pass traffic.
Court documents said Nicholas Marino admitted to shooting Thomas. He is being held on $75,000 bond. Bond for Nicholas Marino was set at $20,000.
