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NORRISTOWN — An Upper Moreland Township man was convicted by a jury of charges he brandished a handgun during a “road rage” incident, terrorizing a woman and her 18-year-old daughter who were in another vehicle.
Mohammed Al Jumaili, 29, of the 3500 block of West Moreland Road, was convicted of two counts each of terroristic threats, simple assault and recklessly endangering another person in connection with the July 13, 2022, traffic altercation that occurred at Welsh and Twining roads in the Willow Grove section of Upper Moreland.
The jury deliberated about 40 minutes before reaching a verdict after hearing one day of testimony.
Judge Steven T. O’Neill deferred sentencing so that court officials can complete a background investigation report about Al Jumaili.
Al Jumaili was permitted to remain free on bail while awaiting sentencing. He was required to surrender his passport and all of his firearms as a condition of bail.
“This is a road rage case,” said Assistant District Attorney Blair Rohlfing. “I think anytime someone pulls a gun on somebody it affects them and they respond in the way you expect a victim to respond. It terrified them. They are still to this day pretty frightened.”
Rohlfing vowed to seek a jail sentence against Al Jumaili.
Defense lawyer George Griffith Jr. represented Al Jumaili during the trial.
“I argued that it was a vehicular incident and did not rise to the level of road rage,” Griffith said after the trial.
During the trial, Griffith suggested the female driver of the second vehicle instigated the traffic altercation and that Al Jumaili felt threatened because of her actions and that’s why he felt the need to display the firearm.
Al Jumaili testified during the trial.
The investigation began about 11:09 a.m. July 13 when Upper Moreland police responded to the area of Welsh and Twining roads for a report of a male operating a blue sport utility vehicle who had pointed a gun at the female caller, according to a criminal complaint filed by Upper Moreland Detective Francis Joseph Gallagher Jr.
The suspect’s vehicle then fled westbound toward Blair Mill Road and police were provided a partial license plate number which linked the vehicle to Al Jumaili, according to court papers. Police subsequently located the vehicle in front of a nearby Lowes home improvement store and Al Jumaili was located inside the store.
Al Jumaili admitted to owing a firearm and said the firearm was inside his 2021 Kia vehicle. Al Jumaili voluntarily retrieved a black and silver Colt .45-caliber pistol from the vehicle and gave it police.
The pistol held a magazine that was loaded with six .45-caliber rounds of ammunition, Gallagher alleged. Al Jumaili had a valid license to carry a firearm at the time.
The victim identified Al Jumaili as the person who pointed the gun at her, according to the arrest affidavit.
The victim told police she and her daughter were headed to work on Welsh Road when a blue SUV operated by Al Jumaili pulled out in front of her from Kimball Avenue as she was traveling in the right lane. The woman said she could not move over and did not let the SUV in front of her and that the driver of the SUV got angry and called her a derogatory name, according to the arrest affidavit.
The victim claimed Al Jumaili chose to continue driving aside of her westbound on Welsh Road toward Twining Road.
“While stuck in traffic, the defendant pulled out a gun and pointed it at her and her daughter, who was sitting in the front passenger seat, saying something about his neighborhood,” Gallagher wrote in the criminal complaint, adding the woman said she “feared for her life.” “She ducked down as her daughter reclined her seat back to avoid being shot.”
The victim’s daughter told detectives “she was scared that the defendant was going to shoot her and her mother.”
During an interview by detectives, Al Jumaili claimed he was on his way to Lowes to purchase gardening tools and while he was turning onto Moreland Road from his apartment complex he was cut off by a silver sedan just prior to a construction zone. Al Jumaili claimed the occupants of the sedan began “flipping” him off with their hands out the window.
“He admitted he showed them, the occupants of the silver vehicle, his gun right after they had cut him off,” Gallagher alleged, adding the two vehicles stopped for a red light on Welsh Road at Twining Road. “At this point he removed the gun from the driver’s side map pocket. He took it out of its holster, so the people would know it’s a gun and held the gun up at chest level while saying, ‘Don’t do that in my neighborhood.’
“He stated the muzzle was not facing the silver sedan, he wanted to show them he had a gun, and it had to be out of the holster so they would recognize it was a gun. He then sped away once the light turned green,” Gallagher alleged.
Al Jumaili allegedly stated that neither victim threatened him, displayed a weapon or did anything else that indicated they were capable of causing him harm. Al Jumaili claimed he was afraid of their driving.
“This was really good detective work that tracked down a seriously dangerous use of a gun and we’re really grateful for that,” Rohlfing said.
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