Did road rage lead to murder in Boise? Police now say man may have shot at two cars

Published: February 18, 2013 

Shawn N. Fisher

Ada County Jail

Police say they have information that connects a suspect in a hit-and-run on the Boise Bench with the killing of a man on Franklin Road on Monday night.

Boise police are still calling 35-year-old Shawn Nathan Fisher a person of interest in the Monday night shooting death of Matthew Mohler-Kerns.

The 28-year-old Mohler-Kerns was pronounced dead just before 9 p.m. Monday at Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center. Paramedics took him there after he was found with a gunshot wound to the head; he was sitting in his stopped car in the westbound lane of Franklin Road near Benjamin Lane.

Just how or whether that death links to Fisher is what police are still working to figure out two days later.

A memorial service for Mohler-Kerns will be held Saturday at 1 p.m. at the Alden-Waggoner Funeral Chapel.

Updated: Boise police said Wednesday that Fisher is now accused of shooting at another driver before Mohler-Kerns was killed — and that might have started over a parking dispute. More new details below.

No mention of the death of Mohler-Kerns was made during Fisher's first court appearance Wednesday, but more info was released on the first shooting — including information that police have recovered the bullet shot into the first car.

Fisher is being held in the Ada County Jail on a $500,000 bond on a felony charges of aggravated battery and aggravated assault in connection with a hit and run crash/shooting Monday night. He is also charged with a misdemeanor count of kicking a police dog. He is not yet charged in connection with the death of Mohler-Kerns.

Police arrested Fisher after a short chase on foot in South Boise, where officers used a K-9 dog and a Taser to arrest Fisher, who was armed, according to reports.

This is how police say the cases fit together, according to interviews and court records:

A Boise man told police he parked his maroon sedan across two parking spaces at his apartment complex off Canal Street just before 8 p.m. Monday because he had to run up to his home to get something he forgot.

When the man came down, he saw a white Geo Prism stopped right by his car, with the lights shining on it.

That man got into his sedan, and told police he pulled out of the parking lot and on to Canal Street. That's when he said the driver of the Geo, later identified as Fisher, pulled out of another driveway in the parking lot, got behind his car, and rammed into the back of it.

Witnesses say Fisher then drove the Geo next to the maroon car, fired one shot inside, and sped away, going south on Vista toward Interstate 84.

The victim told police he saw Fisher's passenger window shatter and then heard a thump as the bullet hit a driver's side door. He was not hurt.

That man then drove to his workplace on Franklin Road, near Benjamin Lane, and called 911 to report that his car was hit and he was shot at, according to reports.

Shortly after 8:20 p.m., Boise police received a 911 call from someone who found that Mohler-Kerns had been shot in his vehicle — a silver sedan — which was also near the Franklin Road/Benjamin Lane intersection.

While police were investigating that, Ada County sheriff’s deputies were sent to Fisher's step-mother's home in the 5100 block of Umatilla Avenue after getting a 911 call about a man standing outside a home, threatening to hurt residents.

Prosecutors said Wednesday Fisher sent his step-mother text messages threatening to hurt her before he got there and began banging on the door.

Deputies arrived to find a white Geo Prism parked in Fisher's step-mother's home on Umatilla. It matched the report from the hit-and-run and belongs to Fisher, who witnesses said left the car and ran.

Sheriff’s deputies were joined by Meridian and Boise police officers as they searched the neighborhood for Fisher, who police say was knocking on doors in an attempt to get inside homes.

A Boise officer and dog tracked Fisher and found him hiding in the backyard of a day-care center in the 5000 block of S. Cole Road. Police say they saw him holding a gun and sent in the dog after he refused to turn himself in. Police said they then used a Taser to arrest Fisher as he struggled with the dog.

Police recovered a .38 caliber gun from Fisher. Investigators say the ammunition appears to match the slug found in the first car.

Fisher was taken to Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center, where he was treated for a dog bite, and then booked into the Ada County Jail early Tuesday morning.

Police also say Fisher appeared very intoxicated at the time of his arrest. Police later served a search warrant at Fisher's home and found Spice (synthetic marijuana) and Bath Salts there. It is unclear if a blood sample was taken from Fisher for later evidence testing.

Boise police spokeswoman Lynn Hightower said there is information that links Fisher to the hit-and-run, the shooting death and the chase with police.

She also said Fisher does not appear to have prior connections to either the owner of the car in the hit-and-run or to Mohler-Kerns. Police are investigating the possibility of road rage being a factor.

She said the gun police say they found on Fisher is being tested.

Police are looking to talk to anyone who might have seen Fisher driving the white Geo in the areas of Vista Avenue, I-84, Franklin Road, and the neighborhood near Cole and Amity roads between 8 p.m. and 8:35 p.m. Monday. Anyone with information should call Crime Stoppers at 343-2677.

Police say they are still searching for evidence, including a cellphone, discarded ammunition from a handgun or any video surveillance. Anyone with that information should call Ada County dispatch at 377-6790.

Ada County coroner’s officials said Mohler-Kerns died from the single gunshot wound.

Fisher does not have a significant criminal record in Idaho. He was arrested in 1997 for misdemeanor DUI and has a few speeding tickets, according to Idaho court records.

Patrick Orr: 377-6219, Twitter: @IDS_Orr

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