Man, 20, charged in Eagan road rage shooting that shut down Interstate 35E last month

A 20-year-old man has been charged in connection with a road rage shooting that temporarily shut down a Twin Cities highway last month.

The Shakopee, Minnesota, man is facing two counts of drive-by shooting and three counts of second-degree assault, according to charges filed Wednesday in Dakota County.

The shooting happened on northbound Interstate 35E near Deerwood Drive in Eagan on the evening of July 11.

One victim said they were driving when they saw a white pickup truck moving through traffic before ending up behind a gray sedan. The sedan swerved and prevented the pickup from passing several times, and the vehicles almost collided. Eventually, the truck passed the sedan and that's when the woman says she heard several gunshots, according to court documents. She swerved to get away from the pickup, heard glass shattering and pulled to the shoulder. She called 911 and noticed her vehicle had been struck.

Charges say the driver of the gray sedan told investigators he was driving on the interstate when a white pickup truck approached him from behind and "began messing with him." When the pickup passed on their passenger side, the victim says they flipped off the other driver before they heard gunfire. A passenger had been asleep in the sedan but woke up to the gunfire.

Police found four suspected bullet holes in the sedan: one in the passenger door under the side mirror, one in the vehicle's windshield and two in the hood.

According to charges, traffic cameras showed the suspect vehicle's rear window had been intact before the shooting but was broken after it happened. Cell phone data for the suspect allegedly reveals he was near the scene of the shooting when it occurred before traveling to a nearby apartment complex.

Survelliance video from the apartment showed the suspect and several others appearing to clear out glass and debris from the bed of the pickup truck, and placing tape over apparent bullet holes in the truck's tailgate, charges allege.

Officers executed a search warrant at the suspect's residence on July 29, seizing the keys to his pickup truck and keys to a locked gun safe. Inside the gun safe, charges say officers found empty magazines for two handguns but not the guns. During a subsequent search of the suspect's storage unit, officers found a truck tailgate that appeared to match the vehicle used during the shooting with two bullet holes in it.

Charges say that cell phone data showed one of the people seen in the parking lot with the suspect after the shooting had sent him several screenshots of updates related to the shooting.