Trucker sentenced to 15 years for shooting a fellow driver at an Illinois truck stop

A truck driver pleaded guilty and was sentenced on Thursday following a 2019 truck stop shooting that left another truck driver injured.

On March 18, Ohio-based former truck driver William M. Lutz, 60, pleaded guilty to a charge of committing armed violence and was sentenced to 15 years and six months in prison.

Other charges filed against Lutz, including attempted murder, aggravated battery, aggravated unlawful use of a weapon, and aggravated discharge of a firearm, were dropped.

Lutz was charged in connection with a June 8, 2019 shooting that occurred at the Travel Centers of America truck stop in Hampshire, Illinois.

Police said that the two truck drivers were arguing because Lutz believed that the other truck driver, a Pennsylvania resident, was blocking the road. Both truckers retreated to their vehicles. Lutz reportedly retrieved a .45-caliber handgun from his truck and then fired two shots into the driver’s side door of the other driver’s vehicle.

The bullet grazed the victim’s buttocks but he survived.

Following the shooting, police say that they found Lutz parked near Route 47 and I-90 and that he had consumed approximately 30 pills in an attempt to kill himself.

Lutz must complete at least half of his prison sentence before he would be eligible for parole.