2 motorists in Okla. killed in shootings possibly tied to road rage

OKLAHOMA CITY — Two people were killed in separate shooting incidents by what police believe was a driver in a pickup truck who shot at them on a highway west of Oklahoma City, a crime suspected to be tied to road rage, investigators said on Thursday.

The victims were a man and a woman traveling on Interstate 40 in incidents that took place late on Wednesday and early on Thursday, said Jessica Brown, a spokeswoman with the OklahomaState Bureau of Investigation.

One person has been taken into custody, but police would not say if this man was the suspected shooter.

Brown said the man driving the pickup tried to run a car off of westbound I-40, outside of El Reno, about 30 miles west of Oklahoma City.

The pickup driver fired at least once, hitting the man driving the car.

The victim, Jeffrey Powell, 45, pulled the car over, but died at the scene. The car's passenger was unharmed and able to call the Oklahoma Highway Patrol, investigators said.

Officials said the suspect then shot at another vehicle several minutes later, hitting a female driver identified as Billie Jean West, 63, who later died from her injuries.

An Oklahoma Highway patrol trooper later spotted a pickup on I-40 near where the incidents occurred and arrested the driver on a driving under the influence complaint.

The driver, a 36-year-old man from Texas, was being held in Custer County jail.