Bear spray, baseball bat and gun used in road rage fight near school, KY cops say
A man was arrested and charged after a road rage incident prompted a nearby high school to go into a lockdown, Kentucky authorities said.
Elizabethtown police responded to an incident involving gunfire near Central Hardin High School on Sept. 18, a police report said. The gunfire was a result of an escalated road rage conflict between three people, police said.
“The incident began when an adult male and adult female victim were traveling on Ring Road in a Ford Maverick and were cut off by a Dodge Dart driven by Jeremy Yates, age 50, of Eastview, KY,” police said in a statement posted on Facebook.
“Both vehicles stopped at a red light, where a verbal altercation occurred. During the exchange, a baseball bat was displayed, and Yates deployed bear spray on the victims.”
Authorities reported that when the victims attempted to leave, Yates followed and the conflict continued at another red light, where one victim threw a ceramic tile at Yates’ vehicle. Yates pursued and cut off the victims near the high school, where he physically confronted the victims with a firearm, police said.
“At that point, Yates discharged his firearm twice. One round struck the tailgate of the victims’ vehicle, while the second penetrated the rear window, passing between the occupants and striking the windshield. Fortunately, no injuries were reported,” police said.
The incident prompted the high school to go into a “soft lockdown” for 45 minutes, a spokesperson for the Hardin County school district said.
A soft lockdown is where there’s no immediate threat inside a school campus and activities go on as scheduled but no one can enter or exit the school, ALICE Training says.
Yates was arrested and charged with two counts of wanton endangerment-discharge of a firearm, court documents say.
Elizabethtown is about a 45-mile drive south from Louisville.
This story was originally published September 19, 2025 at 10:52 AM with the headline "Bear spray, baseball bat and gun used in road rage fight near school, KY cops say."