Sarasota shooting reclassified as traffic dispute

A shooting investigation involving a Lakewood Ranch man has been reclassified as a traffic dispute.

The Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office today announced detectives concluded a Nov. 8 shooting at the intersection of Washington Boulevard and 57th Street in Sarasota was an act of self defense.

The individual who fired the weapon was identified as 75-year-old Stephen B. Fernald of Sarasota. The injured person was 21-year-old Hunter R. Bradley of Lakewood Ranch. Hunter was shot in the shoulder and treated with non-life threatening injuries before being released from Sarasota Memorial Hospital, according to Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Kaitlyn Perez.

Detectives determined Fernald shot in self defense and neither driver faces criminal charges, the Sheriff's Office said in a release.

Perez said the drivers did not know each other and had pulled over and rolled their windows down to argue about driving. Fernald told investigators Bradley’s behavior was “erratic” and that Bradley yelled profanities at him.