Authorities arrested a Texas man — who previously served seven years in prison before he was exonerated for a fatal stabbing he did not commit — for allegedly shooting a fellow motorist in an apparent fit of road rage Thursday.
Lydell Grant was taken into custody Friday for allegedly shooting another driver dead after they got into a minor traffic accident, cops said.
Grant, 46, and a woman were leaving a corner store in a white Lexus sedan when they ran a stop sign and were hit by a Toyota, Houston police said, according to ABC 13.
Grant then stepped out of the car and allegedly fired at the 33-year-old Toyota driver, Edwin Arevalo, before fleeing in the Lexus.
Arevalo was shot at least five times, police said, according to KHOU.
The fatal shooting comes after Grant already spent seven years behind bars after he was previously – and wrongly – convicted of stabbing 28-year-old Aaron Scheerhoorn to death outside a Houston bar in 2012.
Grant was found guilty after six witnesses testified against him at trial, but was declared innocent in May 2021 by a Texas Court of Criminal Appeals after DNA on the victim’s fingernails didn’t match his.
He was serving a life sentence for the crime before he was let out on bond in 2019 to await the appeals court’s decision.
Police arrested Jermarico Carter for Scheerhoorn’s killing in 2019 after the new suspect confessed to the crime.
He pleaded guilty to murder and is in prison.
Grant was pinpointed as a suspect for Thursday’s shooting death after investigators reviewed surveillance video, ABC 13 reported.
His bond was set for $1 million.
The Innocence Project of Texas, which helped free Grant a few years ago, said it could not comment on the current case.
“We are saddened by the news of this tragic event and our thoughts and sympathies go out to the victim’s family,” the organization told the station. “As this is an ongoing investigation, we cannot comment on the specifics of this incident. We stand behind Mr. Grant’s previous exoneration, which was granted by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals.”
With Post wires