'Truly a senseless act': Minneapolis-area youth baseball coach, father killed in road rage shooting

Friday, July 9, 2021
'Truly a senseless act': Road rage shooting kills MN baseball coach
"I just have to say this was one the most tragic events that I have witnessed in my 20 years in policing," the local police chief said.

PLYMOUTH, Minn. -- A youth baseball coach and father is dead after being shot during a Minneapolis-area road rage incident.

Police said the other driver appears to have fired into the victim's vehicle.

"I just have to say this was one the most tragic events that I have witnessed in my 20 years in policing," said Erik Fadden, chief of police in Plymouth, Minnesota.

Fadden grew emotional describing the shooting that took the life of Jay Boughton Tuesday night, WCCO reported.

Since then, Boughton has been described as a selfless man, who would do anything for his family -- a wife, 15-year-old son and 13-year-old daughter -- as well as the Armstrong Cooper Youth Baseball Association community.

On Tuesday night, Boughton and his son were driving home from a baseball game he had just finished coaching, when some sort of road rage incident broke out on Highway 169.

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"We further believe that there may have been some sort of traffic altercation between the two drivers," Fadden said.

A single surveillance image Plymouth police released from traffic cameras shows Boughton's vehicle, a black car, and the suspected shooter's vehicle, a silver SUV.

When Boughton was shot, he lost control of his vehicle, crashing it into cars in a nearby apartment complex parking lot.

His son gave CPR until paramedics arrived, and Boughton was taken to a local hospital, where he later died.

"It was truly a senseless act that resulted in the loss of human life," Fadden said.

Police are looking for that silver SUV.

They think it might be a Chevy Tahoe or Suburban.