Just days after a driver ran over and injured four cyclists out on a group ride, Austin, Texas is again home to violence against cyclists. The Austin Police Department arrested Austin resident Merrick David Isaacks for shooting and hospitalizing cyclist Alonso Solis-Mata.
The 19-year-old claimed he was trying to “blow off steam” when he fired his shotgun from a car at Solis-Mata.
According to the Fox News, Solis-Mata was rushed to the hospital, where he was treated for “unknown injury to his back, shoulder, and head after he was struck by what appeared to be a shotgun blast,” and “pellets from the shotgun blast [that] had entered the victim’s brain stem.”
In an affidavit, a witness said Isaacks “turned his entire body toward the passenger side door and lifted the shotgun to the window as if he was aiming at something and fired one shot.” Oh and said witness says he was forced at gunpoint to drive the car during the assault.
Isaacks has been charged with two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon; his bail has been set at $250,000. Ride safe Austinites.
