Man accused in Denver-area road rage death says it was an accident

At first, Travis Smith wasn’t even involved in Friday night’s Westminster road-rage incident.

But when one of the two men who were involved weaved his car in front of Smith’s sport utility vehicle and slammed on his brakes, Smith pulled out a gun and “accidentally” shot him.

Twenty-one-year-old Broomfield resident Justin Maggard is dead and Smith, 26, is in jail for investigation of first-degree murder.

“Our hearts are bleeding and will never mend,” said Maggard’s stepfather, Harlan Schrade. “Right now we are not able to talk. This was a tragic road-rage incident.”

Schrade said Maggard had three sisters and two brothers.

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The incident unfolded about 7:45 p.m. Friday as Smith drove east on West 120th Avenue toward traffic lights at Huron Street, with his girlfriend, Margaret Knight, following behind him with a friend in another car.

Both Knight and Smith later recounted that they saw drivers in two other cars weaving erratically in traffic, apparently in some type of confrontation. Neither of them knew the drivers in the other cars or what triggered their anger.

For more of this Denver Post story: http://www.denverpost.com/ci_13811088