Three Ohio residents are facing the potential of prison time following their arrest in connection with a road rage incident at Great Smoky Mountains National Park in which shots were fired, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for Eastern Tennessee.
The three named in a criminal compliant filed in U.S. District Court in Knoxville were Yosiah Awomolo, 20, Alexander Legeza, 21, and Kelly White, 28, according to a release from the U.S. attorney.
The criminal complaint alleges that on July 31, 2025, law enforcement officers from the national park and the Gatlinburg Police Department responded to a road rage incident involving the discharge of a firearm and threatening of a person with a deadly weapon on U.S. 441 South (The Spur). Law enforcement determined that Yosiah Awomolo, the driver of a 2022 gray Buick Envision, threatened the driver of a 2003 Chevrolet Silverado pickup truck with a handgun and fired one round into the pickup truck.
The round lodged in the driver’s lunchbox that was on the front passenger seat, the release said. During the investigation, law enforcement recovered the shell casing in the roadway on U.S. 441 South in the same area of the reported shooting. Alexander Legeza and Kelly White were passengers in the Buick Envision, according to the U.S. attorney.
The complaint further alleges that the Pigeon Forge Police Department located the suspect vehicle at the Park Tower Inn in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. Officers arrested all three suspects and seized two firearms from inside the suspects’ hotel room.
The criminal complaint charges Awomolo with assault with a dangerous weapon with intent to do bodily harm, assault with a deadly weapon, reckless endangerment, and communicating a threat to another person. It further notes that Legeza is charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm and misprison of a felony. White is charged with misprison of a felony.
This prosecution is the result of an ongoing investigation by the National Park Service, Gatlinburg Police Department, and Pigeon Forge Police Department.
Members of the public are reminded that these are only charges and that every person is presumed innocent until their guilt has been proven beyond a reasonable doubt.
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