Police were searching for a semi-tractor trailer truck driver who shot and killed another trucker in an apparent road-rage incident Saturday afternoon while both were driving east on Interstate 10 about a half-mile west of Chaffee Road on Jacksonville's Westside.

The victim - a man in his mid-40s - crashed his rig into the woods along I-10 after being shot. Several passing motorists witnessed the 1:50 p.m. incident and called 911. Florida Highway Patrol troopers found the victim dead behind the steering wheel in his truck cab, said Sgt. Jay Farhat of the Sheriff's Office.

"We believe this was a road rage that escalated into a shooting, which resulted in a murder," Farhat said.

Authorities withheld the victim's name pending notification of his family. He was a private contractor for a company that police declined to identify.

Farhat said as the victim was driving east when another semi-tractor trailer truck came up along side of him.

"At some point there was some type of dispute," Farhat said of what prompted the shooting. "The two trucks actually bumped according to witnesses, and sometime after that the victim veered off the roadway into the woods."

Farhat said the gunman was driving an early-tomid-2000 Freightliner with a dull orange cab and pulling a white trailer. The truck should have damage on its right-hand passenger side. The man driving the truck had a beard.

Investigators, which at one point included Florida Department of Law Enforcement crime-scene technicians, swarmed over the victim's truck as well as along the shoulder of the highway for about a half-mile in search of evidence.

The victim's truck had careened nose-first across a water-filled ditch and went deep into the woods, but the rear of its trailer was visible from the interstate. Debris including what appeared to possibly be broken glass and pieces of tire littered the pavement on I-10 for about a half-mile near the site.

Farhat said initially the Highway Patrol believed it was a fatal wreck because most of the 911 calls described it that way. But then witnesses came forward and subsequent investigation revealed the driver had been shot, which led to the Sheriff's Office homicide unit being called, he said.

The Highway Patrol broadcast a description of the shooter's truck to weigh stations as well as law enforcement agencies all up and down I-10 and Interstate 95.

Farhat said police normally don't see road-rage incidents involving semi-truck drivers because usually they adhere to professional courtesy.

As traffic increases with the summer travel months, Farhat said "people really need to have patience."

'It's not worth it. Somebody cutting someone else off, if that's even what happened to cause this, we don't know. But it's not worth somebody losing their life," Farhat said. "Take a breath and just keep going or call FHP or JSO."

Farhat said investigators will check the "black box" of the victim's truck to ascertain how fast it was traveling and other details surrounding the shooting and crash.

Police are asking anyone who sees the truck or has other information to contact the Sheriff's Office at (904) 630-0500 or Crime Stoppers at (866) 845-8477.

Teresa Stepzinski: (904) 359-4075