On October 27, 2024, a fatal road rage incident occurred in Riverview, Florida, resulting in the death of 61-year-old Steven Edward Powers. The incident took place at the intersection of U.S. Highway 301 and Bloomingdale Avenue around 2:15 p.m.
Powers was driving a work van with his adult grandson when they encountered Kentavious Gholston, 26, who was driving a black Mazda. Gholston was driving recklessly, and when he cut in front of Powers, Powers honked his horn in response.
This led to Gholston brake-checking Powers, a situation that escalated further. Gholston believed that Powers had hit his car, so he parked in the middle of the road. Powers, irate, got out of the van and attempted to punch Gholston but missed. Gholston then pushed Powers to the ground and fired three rounds into his back with a 9mm Glock semiautomatic gun. He fired two more rounds, striking Powers a total of four times.
After the shooting, Gholston pointed the gun at Powers’ grandson, who had gotten out of the van, before getting back into his car and speeding away. Gholston later removed the license plate from his car and abandoned it at an apartment complex. The car did not show any damage.
Powers was taken to a local hospital, where he later died from his injuries. The Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office sought the public's help in identifying Gholston, receiving numerous tips, including cellphone video of the incident and dash cam footage of Gholston running a red light as he fled the scene. Surveillance cameras from a nearby preparatory school also captured the incident, and a debit card recovered from the scene was traced to Gholston.
Gholston surrendered himself to deputies around 2 p.m. on October 28, 2024. He did not claim self-defense and admitted to using the 9mm Glock, which he disassembled and threw into a retention pond. Despite efforts by a sheriff’s office dive team, the gun was not found immediately.
Gholston is facing charges of murder, aggravated assault, tampering with physical evidence, and violating probation. He was on probation for a charge of domestic battery by strangulation in Hernando County and was not supposed to possess a gun. State Attorney Suzy Lopez stated that prosecutors were drafting a motion to have Gholston held without bond, emphasizing that the tragedy was completely avoidable and that Gholston had executed a 61-year-old grandfather in a busy intersection.
