Man charged with murder in road rage shooting of four-year-old boy

Byron Burkhart allegedly opened fire family of Gor Adamyan as they drove to buy groceries

A California man has been charged with murder over the killing of a four-year-old boy in a road rage shooting that saw him allegedly fire eight times into a family’s vehicle.

Prosecutors say that Byron Burkhart opened fire on the family as they drove to buy groceries, killing the boy, Gor Adamyan, as he sat in the backseat.

Mr Burkhart, 29, has been charged with one count of murder, two counts of attempted murder, one count of shooting at an occupied vehicle and five counts of possession of a firearm by a felon.

The shocking incident took place on Friday when the suspect was driving with his girlfriend and allegedly cut off the other vehicle in Lancaster, California.

Prosecutors say that Mr Burkhart allegedly “engaged in aggressive driving maneuvers and road rage.”

Officials say that the youngster was struck once and his mother and father were not hit by the hail of bullets.

“During the incident, the suspect driver cut them off and then began following them through several surface streets,” the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said.

“While being pursued by the suspects, the victim driver slowed his vehicle, at which time the suspect driver pulled up along the passenger side of the victim’s car and began shooting.”

A camera on the victim’s vehicle captured the suspect’s license plate, according to the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office.

The suspect’s vehicle was found within hours of the shooting using license-plate readers installed in the city, which is 70 miles north of Los Angeles.

The suspect is being held on $5m bail.

A GoFundMe account for the family had raised more than $77,000 as of 21 December.