KING COUNTY, Wash. — Michael Foxworth thought he had evidence he needed.
It included a photo of a license plate and a second blurry image of the man he says pointed a handgun at him and his mother as they headed up State Route 167 on their way to Emerald Downs last June.
“I told my mother, ‘Call the state patrol,’” Foxworth said as he let the man in the tailgating SUV pass him and speed off. “I figured that would be enough evidence,” Foxworth added, referring to the photos he snapped and the eye-witness accounts from him and his mother.
But nearly four months later, no charges have been filed against the registered owner of the vehicle.
State patrol records obtained by KING 5 show a trooper visited the owner’s Kent home twice and even took a photo of a black handgun, just like the one Foxworth described, sitting on the front seat of the SUV in the driveway. Unable to get an answer at the door of the Kent home, “This case is being closed,” the trooper wrote in his report.
“That’s no way to solve a problem,” said a disappointed Foxworth. “I don’t want anybody on the road flashing weapons.”
Gun incidents on freeways on the rise since 2020
KING 5’s analysis of records from the Washington State Patrol reveals that many armed suspects, like the one who threatened Foxworth, do not face justice.
Records show 283 reported road rage incidents involving guns on King County highways and interstates during the first six months of 2024. Only nine suspects were arrested during that same time.
Some of those 283 incidents are shootings, but most involve someone “brandishing” a gun or pointing it at someone but not pulling the trigger. As KING 5 reported previously, reports of gun incidents on county freeways have risen 70% since the start of the pandemic.
Gun violence researchers reported a surge of highway gun violence nationwide since the pandemic that has only now started to trend downward.
But Sarah Burd-Sharps, senior director of Research for Everytown for Gun Safety, said KING 5’s statistics point to a weakness in researcher’s data collection, which is culled from reports of shootings in the news media.
“Most incidents of brandishing a weapon actually don’t get reported in the media,” said Burd-Sharps.
That means the level of potential violence is vastly underreported.
“This is a problem that we need to get on top of, and one really important way to get on top of it is to know what's going on, to collect the data. And the fact that it has increased a lot in Washington state is frightening and tragic,” said Burd-Sharps.
KING 5 asked the Washington State Patrol why there are so few arrests in these cases.
WSP, which responds to road rage reported on highways, said it investigates every call. But Trooper Rick Johnson said in many cases victims do not want to press charges.
“They just wanted to let us know,” said Johnson. “And a lot of times they don’t have a description of the individual driving,” or a license plate number, he said.
In Foxworth’s case, Johnson said the responding trooper could not get a positive identification on who was behind the wheel with the gun.
“We need positive identification, and I understand for the victim that’s frustrating. We have the license plate, which is correct, but we need to confirm the identity of the person that was driving the vehicle,” he said.
'What makes you point a gun at a 13-year-old kid?'
Making a case can take time and effort.
On May 13, a 911 caller said a woman in black SUV pointed a handgun at the caller and their 13-year-old niece on State Route 18 near Interstate 90. When a state patrol detective ran the SUV’s license plate, he determined the same vehicle was identified in a gun road rage case in the same area in June of last year.
Detective Ivan Sergeev identified the owner of the vehicle and used cell phone data to determine that she was in the vicinity of both brandishing cases at the time of the reported crimes. A state patrol team pulled over Nicole T. Howland (AKA Collins), a 33-year-old wife and mother from Federal Way, when she was spotted in the same SUV and arrested her for assault. A search warrant uncovered a handgun in a backpack on the passenger’s seat. Howland is now charged with two counts of assault with a deadly weapon.
“You could have killed my 13-year-old niece,” said the victim of the May crime, who did not want to be identified. “As a full-grown adult, what makes you point a gun at a 13-year-old kid?”
In a first appearance in King County Superior Court last week, Howland pleaded not guilty to charges of assault with a deadly weapon.
But Howland’s arrest and criminal charges are the exception. Most suspects who flash guns in road rage incidents speed off and get away with the crime.
That frustrates Michael Foxworth, who said he spent 14 years in the Marine Corps and learned how to responsibly handle firearms.
No charges have been filed against the man suspected of pointing a gun at Foxworth.
“I have nothing against having or owning a firearm,” Foxworth said, adding that he does have a problem with irresponsible gun owners like the man who pointed his firearm at him. “If you’re going to get away with it and nothing’s ever going to happen to you, you’re going to keep doing it.”