Pottstown man jailed for Route 100 road rage shooting
NORRISTOWN >> A Pottstown man who fired a handgun at another driver during a road rage incident along busy Route 100 has some time behind bars to think about his violent conduct on the highway.
Christopher John Cossel, 32, of the 700 block of Hamilton Street, was sentenced in Montgomery County Court to 5-to-10-years in a state correctional facility after he pleaded guilty to felony charges of aggravated assault and person not to possess a firearm in connection with the 7:25 a.m. Sept. 22, 2017, incident on Route 100 that played out in Montgomery and Berks counties.
Judge Steven T. O’Neill, who accepted a plea agreement in the case, said Cossel must forfeit all firearms to the district attorney’s office. Cossel, who was represented by defense lawyer Thomas C. Egan III, is prohibited from having any contact with the female victim of the road rage incident.
An investigation began when Upper Pottsgrove police responded to reports of an ongoing “road rage/traffic dispute” involving two vehicles and the firing of gunshots on northbound Route 100, according to the criminal complaint filed by county Detective Mark Minzola and Upper Pottsgrove Police Chief Francis Wheatley.
The gunshot was heard by 911 dispatchers who were called during the traffic dispute, according to authorities.
The investigation determined Cossel, operating a 2000 Dodge Caravan and carrying a female passenger and her 8-month-old child, turned onto Route 100 from North State Street while a woman in a 2011 Chevrolet Malibu was traveling northbound on Route 100. Authorities said it’s unclear if the vehicles had contact at the intersection, however, neither vehicle pulled over to the side of the road and both continued traveling north on Route 100.
At the next intersection, Route 100 and State Street, Cossel drove his vehicle onto the right lane shoulder of the roadway and “maneuvered his vehicle in an aggressive manner,” steering toward the female victim’s vehicle in the right lane, investigators alleged.
“This maneuver forced (the victim) to steer her vehicle from the right lane into the left lane, nearly striking the concrete median in an effort to avoid contact with Cossel’s Caravan,” Minzola and Wheatley alleged, adding both vehicles continued to travel at a high rate of speed as they approached Farmington Avenue.
At Farmington Avenue, Cossel passed the victim’s vehicle, positioning his Caravan directly in front of the victim’s vehicle, and he then “brake checked” his vehicle, causing the victim’s Malibu to collide with the rear of Cossel’s Caravan, according to the criminal complaint.
Prior to arriving at Route 100 and Moyer Road, Cossel removed a .25-caliber semiautomatic handgun from his center console, “manipulated the firearm’s action to chamber a round, then placed the handgun into his pants pocket,” according to the arrest affidavit.
At Route 100 and Moyer Road, both vehicles stopped for a red signal and Cossel exited his vehicle and walked toward the victim’s vehicle while “screaming and waving his arms,” detectives alleged. Afterward, Cossel got back into his vehicle and both vehicles continued northbound on Route 100.
During the ongoing incident, according to court documents, the victim called 911 and stated to dispatchers, “he’s trying to kill me.”
When the vehicles reached the intersection of Route 100 and Township Line Road in Colebrookdale Township, Berks County, “Cossel exited his vehicle, stood near the center of the roadway and fired at least one gunshot from his .25-caliber semiautomatic handgun toward the direction of (the victim’s) Chevrolet Malibu,” detectives alleged.
No one was struck by the gunfire.
Witnesses who observed the ongoing road rage incident told detectives they believed Cossel’s Caravan was “the aggressive vehicle.”
The female passenger in Cossel’s vehicle also called 911 during the incident, with Cossel being heard in the background, and several times the dispatcher suggested to them that they pull off to the side of the road and avoid any further problems.
“Cossel refused to pull over and insisted on following (the victim),” detectives alleged.
After arriving at the intersection of Route 100 and Township Line Road, 911 dispatchers heard Cossel state, “get somebody out here or I’ll deal with this by myself,” and “they don’t want to help us, I’ll do it myself,” according to the criminal complaint.
“Following the last remark on this 911 recording, the sound of a door can be heard, followed by the sound of a single gunshot being fired,” detectives alleged, adding Cossel is then heard uttering an obscenity, followed by the sound of a door closing.
When detectives questioned Cossel he admitted to firing a single gunshot, which he described as being a “potshot,” aimed at the tire of the victim’s vehicle. Cossel also told detectives that after firing the gunshot, he drove to a storage unit he had in Bally where he “washed my hands with cleaner” in the event law enforcement officers tested his hands for gunshot residue, according to the criminal complaint.
Detectives said Cossel was not permitted to possess a weapon as a result of a 2013 felony drug conviction.
Cossel also pleaded guilty to an additional charge of person not to possess a firearm in connection with an incident that occurred about a month after the road rage incident. Pottstown police alleged that on Oct. 10, 2017, they found an American Bulldog revolver that appeared to be operable hidden under the passenger side front seat of Cossel’s Dodge Caravan.