Published: 4/29/2019 10:36:51 PM
Modified: 4/30/2019 11:02:47 AM
GRAFTON — New Hampshire State Police have charged a 38-year-old Grafton man in a “road rage” shooting along Route 4 Monday afternoon near the intersection with Lower Meadow Road.
Police said Joseph Brown was driving along Route 4 in a 2011 Ford Flex around 3:15 p.m. when he got into a “confrontation” with 46-year-old Jason Marandos, who was driving a 2011 Ford Escape.
Marandos’s wife, Heidi, told police she recalled her husband getting agitated at the behavior of the other motorist, who was allegedly Brown, as they traveled in the same direction along Route 4. Jason Marandos then slammed on the brakes, and the two vehicles collided, according to a newly released court affidavit.
The men exited the vehicles and confronted one another and the altercation turned physical, the affidavit states.
Heidi Marandos told police that she urged the men to stop fighting and they did, but then Brown “pulled out a gun and shot (Jason) Marandos in the abdomen,” according to the affidavit.
Police arrested Brown and charged him with first-degree assault. Jason Marandos was taken to Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, where he had surgery and is expected to survive, police said in an earlier news release.
Grafton resident Dana Smart said he came upon the dispute as he returned from a shopping trip in Tilton, N.H.
Smart said he had just noticed two Ford SUV’s positioned at a “funny angle” near the breakdown lane when a woman ran toward him “screaming for help.”
Smart recalled seeing a man kneeling on the ground suffering from an injury; because cellphone coverage is spotty in the area, Smart drove 1½ miles down Route 4, which also is Main Street, to the police and fire stations to alert authorities.
Dozens of state and municipal police officers converged on the scene and closed Route 4 between Sargent Hill and Lower Meadow roads. The road remained closed into Monday night.
Brown is slated to be arraigned Tuesday afternoon in Grafton County Superior Court.
New Hampshire State Police asked anyone with information about the incident to call Sgt. Michael Cote at 603-223-8872.
Updated at 11 a.m. Tuesday with details from the police affidavit.
Jordan Cuddemi can be reached at jcuddemi@vnews.com or 603-727-3248.