SUNNYVALE — A man charged with killing a motorist after a traffic collision earlier this month intentionally caused the crash so he could shoot the victim and his passenger, police allege in court documents.

Jason Kazumi Tahara, 23, of San Jose, is being held without bail in the Santa Clara County Main Jail on one count each of murder and attempted murder, with potential sentencing enhancements for use of a handgun and lying in wait.

The Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety has said the shooting was unprovoked and that the man who died, 20-year-old Sacramento resident Rukuan Zhang, and his passenger had no connection to Tahara and appear to have been targeted randomly.

According to a probable-cause statement accompanying the felony charges against Tahara, Sunnyvale Detective Ben Holt wrote that video surveillance shows Tahara was driving his red Honda CR-V east on Homestead Road near Linnet Lane the afternoon of March 7 when he “brake checked” the car behind him by stopping suddenly, causing the trailing vehicle to rear-end him.

Both vehicles turned right onto southbound Linnet Lane, and Zhang pulled over to prepare to exchange information with Tahara, according to an account given to police by the woman riding with Zhang. Tahara abruptly made a U-turn and pulled up alongside Zhang’s car, fired six shots from a handgun at them and then fled, Holt wrote.

Zhang was hit in the back of his head and died at the scene. The passenger was hit in the hand, Holt wrote.

Both the surviving victim and surveillance cameras in the area gave investigators a license plate for the shooter’s vehicle. San Jose police tracked Tahara to his home in that city, where Tahara was observed switching the license plates on his Honda.

He was arrested at a gas station at the city’s border with Campbell. But because of the discovery of a propane tank in Tahara’s SUV next to a “suspicious device,” the SJPD bomb squad was summoned to examine the vehicle.

After the vehicle was cleared, police found a cache of firearms that documents listed as two “tactical style” rifles, several high-capacity rifle magazines, two handguns also accompanied by several high-capacity magazines, body armor, and over 400 rounds of handgun and rifle ammunition.

Also inside the car, police reported finding a 9mm handgun they believe was used in the shooting, and that it had no serial number. Police added that a search of Tahara’s home turned up several tactical rifle parts and evidence that he might have been building and modifying rifles at his home.

Tahara has not entered a plea and is next scheduled to appear in court April 3, though the certainty of that date could change due to court reductions and closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic.