A man in Lexington County, South Carolina, was arrested on Friday after being filmed holding a firearm and pointing it toward a Black motorist in a road rage incident.
Alexis Merritt, a relative of the victim, posted the video on her Facebook page of the driver being threatened with a gun by a man authorities identified as Adam Lee Jones.
The six-second video shows Jones yelling and displaying the Black handgun while the two cars were stopped at a traffic light near the 200 block of Longs Pond Road on June 8, according to the arrest warrant issued by Lexington County Sheriff’s Department.
The video received over 175,000 views and was shared over 1,000 times on Merritt’s Facebook account.
“Can anybody tell me who this his? He pull a gun on my baby this morning on the way to work at the red light by Exit 51…yes I’m pissed and I promise you don’t want this smoke so don’t come on my post with the BS,” Merritt wrote on Facebook with the video attached.
Lexington County Sheriff Bryan “Jay” Koon said a family member reported the incident and Jones was arrested on Friday, June 9. It’s unclear what relationship the motorist has to Merritt, but on April 17, she posted a video of a teenage boy in a new car who she identified as her son. Another relative said on Twitter that the driver was her teenage cousin.
“In cellphone video recorded by the victim, Jones can be seen yelling before reaching down and grabbing a black handgun,” Koon said in a statement to WIS News. “Jones then holds the gun where the victim can clearly see it.”
Jones, 43, was charged with presenting a firearm. His bond was set at $10,000, and he was released on Saturday.
The Lexington County Sheriff’s Department also said that the report made by the victim’s family member and the viral video helped lead them to make a quick arrest.
Jones has 32 combined traffic and criminal cases with an arrest record that dates back to 1997, according to Lexington County’s Public Index. Social media users questioned how Jones was able to obtain a gun with his long arrest history.
Lexington County’s population is 78.4 percent white and 16.4 percent Black, according to the 2022 U.S. Census Bureau.
Merritt thanked the Lexington County Sheriff’s Department and her Facebook friends after Jones was arrested.
“I want to thank God first and foremost, and I want to thank all my social media family and friends for helping me thanks to Lexington County Sheriff’s Department I pray he learned and if not I pray nobody get hurt behind his foolishness,” wrote Merritt on Facebook.
According to The State Newspaper, Jones’ felony charge holds a maximum of five years in prison if he is convicted.
