Three Ohio Residents Arrested For Road Rage Shooting In Great Smoky Mountain National Park

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Yosiah Awomolo, 20, Alexander Legeza, 21, and Kelly White, 28, all Ohio residents, with were charged in a federal criminal complaint today on charges involving a road rage shooting within the Great Smoky Mountain National Park (GSMNP).  They had their initial appearance today in the United States District Court in Knoxville, before the Honorable Debra C. Poplin, United States Magistrate Judge.

The criminal complaint filed with the court alleges that on July 31, 2025, law enforcement officers from GSMNP and the Gatlinburg Police Department responded to a road rage incident involving the discharge of a firearm and threatening of a person with a deadly weapon on U.S. 441 South (The Spur).  Law enforcement determined that Yosiah Awomolo, the driver of a 2022 gray Buick Envision, threatened the driver of a 2003 Chevrolet Silverado pickup truck with a handgun and fired one round into the pickup truck.  The round lodged in the driver’s lunchbox that was on the front passenger seat.  During the investigation, law enforcement recovered the shell casing in the roadway on U.S. 441 South in the same area of the reported shooting.  Alexander Legeza and Kelly White were passengers in the Buick Envision.   

The complaint further alleges that the Pigeon Forge Police Department located the suspect vehicle at the Park Tower Inn in Pigeon Forge, TN. Officers arrested all three suspects and seized two firearms from inside the suspects’ hotel room.  The criminal complaint charges Awomolo with assault with a dangerous weapon with intent to do bodily harm, assault with a deadly weapon, reckless endangerment, and communicating a threat to another person.  Legeza is charged with felon in possession of a firearm and misprison of a felony.  White is charged with misprison of a felony.

U.S. Attorney Francis M. Hamilton III of the Eastern District of Tennessee made the announcement.

This prosecution is the result of an ongoing investigation by the National Park Service, Gatlinburg Police Department, and Pigeon Forge Police Department.

Members of the public are reminded that these are only charges and that every person is presumed innocent until their guilt has been proven beyond a reasonable doubt.

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