Authorities say the situation began in the Madison neighborhood with the man driving aggressively, barreling about at a high rate of speed and cutting off other drivers.
Then it got much worse.
Police report that Alden Jones exited his vehicle while at a stop light with a gun in his hand. He then approached the driver behind him and began pounding on the driver’s side window. A witness in another vehicle attempted to talk to Jones but instead became the target of his anger.
That driver, 36-year-old Ricky Frizzell, reportedly saw Jones approach his vehicle. The younger man exited his car and warned the suspect that he was armed and to not come any closer. Investigators say his wife was in the vehicle and he was trying to protect her as well.
Police allege that Jones ignored the command and continued his armed approach at Frizzell and his wife. That’s when he was shot and killed.
Investigators say the couple has been fully cooperative with their probe, and witnesses corroborate their account of the tragic events. Authorities will submit their findings to local prosecutors, but charges in the case appear highly unlikely considering the accounts given by Frizzell and the witnesses.
Once again, a criminal with a gun is stopped by an armed good guy who was not afraid to intervene to protect themselves and others. Road rage has become a much-too-common occurrence, and often it escalates from horns blaring and middle fingers to acts of violence.
By all accounts of the tragic Nashville incident, the man who was fatally shot was the clear aggressor. His first act was to use his vehicle in a threatening manner, which unfortunately is an everyday event in most major cities.
But then he dramatically escalated and threatened the lives of others.
Drivers sitting in traffic with nowhere to go to escape a violent situation are just as trapped as if they’d been caught in a home invasion. The red light and presence of other vehicles made it impossible to just drive away and ignore the threat. And now the aggressive party exits their vehicle and is armed.
The threat just skyrocketed to an entirely new level, and the trapped drivers face a life and death confrontation.
There is no way to know the outcome had the second driver not intervened, first verbally and then with deadly force. But the driver in the vehicle directly behind Jones was being threatened with a firearm, and it took courage for Frizzell to enter the situation and rescue the would-be victim.
As the police and anyone with common sense will tell you, it is always best to avoid a violent confrontation if possible. It may never be known what caused Jones to act out in the way he reportedly did, but in that situation the best response is to notify law enforcement and for everyone to stay out of his way.
Jones, however, allegedly removed that possibility by aggressively confronting drivers stuck in their vehicles and sitting in traffic. His brandishing of a firearm only increased the threat level and forced the response from a concerned citizen.
The Second Amendment exists for a clear reason, and that was demonstrated in Nashville over the weekend. An armed and prepared citizen stepped into a dangerous situation and handled it in the only way that presented itself. Multiple lives were in danger, including his wife’s, and a far more tragic outcome was averted.
