HILLSBOROUGH, N.C. (WNCN) — A Hurdle Mills man was sentenced Monday nearly a year after a Halloween night road rage incident near Hillsborough.
Kelly Brandon Long, 42, was sentenced to 64 to 89 months in prison by Orange County Superior Court Judge Allen Baddour, Orange County District Attorney Jeff Nieman told CBS 17. Long could be released on supervised parole after 38 months.
Long pleaded to two counts of assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill and one count of discharging a weapon into occupied property, Nieman said. As part of the plea, four other charges were dropped.
Long’s sentencing comes the day before the one-year anniversary of the shooting that nearly missed a young boy on his way to trick-or-treat on Halloween night in 2022.
The Orange County Sheriff’s Office said the road-rage incident happened around 7 p.m. that night and took place in and outside of Hillsborough town limits.
That’s when investigators said Long and another driver, 27-year-old Gerrell Long, got into a disagreement on the road. There is no relation between them.
Gerrell Long was with his then-4-year-old boy who was dressed as a fireman.
“Someone was going a little too slow, and one was trying to pass the other,” said Nieman during Kelly Long’s initial court date on Nov. 1.
Investigators said Kelly Long, with his wife in the car, took out a gun, and fired at the vehicle that Gerrell Long and his son were in.
911 calls released Nov. 2 gave a glimpse into the horror a father and son endured during the incident.
In one of the calls, Gerrell Long can be heard telling the dispatcher that “someone is following” him. He then goes on to say, “they just shot at me.”
A bullet grazed the boy and was found lodged in the child-safety seat he was sitting in. Nieman said it was a miracle the boy only suffered a slight burn on his neck from the bullet.
Nieman said Kelly Long had lots of family members and other supporters in the courtroom Monday. The victims were not in attendance but Nieman said that Gerrell Long agreed with the plea.
