SCHUYLKILL COUNTY, Pa. — State police in Schuylkill County finished questioning a suspect in a deadly road rage incident that happened in broad daylight Monday near Orwigsburg.
Troopers say Tamiir Ion Whitted, 29, from Pottsville, is locked up in Schuylkill County facing first-and third-degree, aggravated assault, and other related charges.
As Whitted was escorted away in handcuffs, the man told Newswatch 16, "to defend myself against an older gentleman, I feel it was the only option because the first option I took was to talk to him verbally, but he didn't want to talk."
State police say George Marcincin, 38, of Orwigsburg, was stabbed several times on a busy part of Route 61 in West Brunswick Township. Troopers said the Whitted and Marcincin got out of their vehicles around 2 p.m., and the fight spilled out on the road around them.
Marcincin was pronounced dead on the scene. Troopers had Route 61 shut down for several hours to investigate.
Carol Ansbach lives nearby.
"I've never seen anything like this. It's scary. I can't imagine what goes on in the cities if this goes on in a little town like Orwigsburg," Ansbach said.
After the stabbing, troopers said the Whitted took off. Dispatchers told police to be on the lookout for a silver sedan. Authorities said they pulled over the suspect, and he sped away, leading to a short pursuit.
Police caught up with him minutes later and took him into custody.
Troopers are still trying to figure out what exactly led up to the killing.
"There's a lot of traffic on 61 at 2 o'clock in the afternoon. There's probably a dozen other people that saw this going northbound or southbound. That's who we want to talk to," Trooper David Beohm said.
In addition to looking for witnesses, Troopers are also trying to track down any surveillance video that may help with their investigation into this deadly road rage incident.