LEON COUNTY, Fla. (WTXL) — The Leon County Sheriff's Office has identified the man who was fatally shot during a shooting that resulted from an altercation between drivers near the Circle K on Bannerman Road on Jan. 6.
Deputies responded to a shooting in the Circle K gas station parking lot on the corner of Thomasville Road and Bannerman Road shortly after 5 p.m. Jan. 6 and found 52-year-old John Kuczwanski with life-threatening injuries, LCSO wrote in a release.
Life-saving measures were attempted on the scene but after being transported to a local hospital, Kuczwanski was pronounced dead.
According to the Associated Press, Kuczwanski worked for Florida’s State Board of Administration.
LCSO added that they are still investigating the incident and one person was taken into custody but has since been released. The sheriff's office said that no charges have been filed in this case for now. The shooter's name has not been released yet.
During a search of Leon County court records, it was discovered that the Jan. 6 incident was not the first time Kuczwanski was involved in an altercation while on the roads near his house.
In 2014, Kuczwanski was arrested for allegedly pointing a handgun at another person while at the intersection of Bannerman Road and Thomasville Road.
According to an arrest affidavit found in court documents associated with the case, around 5:30 p.m. on Dec. 14, 2014, someone called the police about a man matching Kuczwanski's description pointing a small black handgun with a mounted laser on it at him while they were both stopped at the intersection.
Deputies then tracked the truck that was described by the caller to a driveway in a nearby neighborhood and found Kuczwanski still in the front seat of the truck. He then told deputies that he was in the area that the incident had recently happened.
He told deputies that a driver in another truck cut him off in traffic while at the intersection of Bannerman and Thomasville Roads. Then, he said he had some words with another driver while stopped at the light, but added that was all that happened.
Kuczwanksi was then asked by deputies if there were any guns in the car, to which he said yes. The gun matched the description of the gun that the caller described from the intersection incident, according to deputies in the report.
Deputies then arrested Kuczwanski and charged him with Aggravated Assault with a Deadly Weapon without intent to Kill, and was booked into the Leon County Jail. He was released on a $5,000 bond the following day, court records show.
On Feb. 17, 2016, Kuczwanski pled no contest to the charge and accepted a plea deal that changed the felony aggravated assault charge to two misdemeanor counts of assault and two misdemeanor counts of disorderly conduct. He was then sentenced to:
- Two years county probation
- 150 hours of community service
- No contact with the victim
- Anger management class
- No firearms while on probation
- Other fees and fines
On Feb. 16, 2018, court records show that Kuczwanski successfully completed the conditions of his sentence.
LCSO said that the Jan. 6 shooting investigation is still active and open. They also ask that anyone who may have witnessed the incident in-person or have video of what happened leading up to and after the incident contact the LCSO Violent Crimes Unit at (850) 606-3300 or to remain anonymous contact Big Bend Crime Stoppers at (850) 574-TIPS (8477).
