D.C. Road Rage: Killer Gets Life Behind Bars

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RELATED: DC Killer Gets Life for Uber Driver Murder

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WASHINGTON D.C. – Rodney Baggott, 58, is headed for a lifetime behind bars after a jury found him guilty of blasting Uber Eats driver Rasheek Abdullah in the neck during a fit of road rage. U.S. District Judge Reggie B. Walton handed down the life-without-parole sentence today, a move celebrated by prosecutors who painted Baggott as a dangerous repeat offender.

The shooting went down January 30th near the Dupont Circle Metro station. Court records show Baggott, driving a white Mitsubishi Outlander, snapped after Abdullah’s car passed him. Baggott, apparently believing he’d been cut off, pulled a gun and opened fire.

Prosecutors laid out a clear case, detailing how Baggott immediately fled the scene with his girlfriend in the passenger seat. The pair then made a panicked call to an auto body shop to repair damage to the Mitsubishi – damage that ultimately connected Baggott to the shooting when police put out a bulletin about it. A jury needed less than a day to convict Baggott on charges of first-degree murder, possession of a firearm during a crime of violence, and being a felon in possession of a firearm. Baggott already had a prior murder conviction on his record.

“This wasn’t just an outburst,” said U.S. Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro in a statement. “This was a career criminal taking another life over nothing.”