Pickup Hits Gunman by Chance, Ending Shooting Spree

A Lutz man is recovering from multiple injuries, including a broken back, after Brooksville Police say he was run over by a truck Friday night.

The how behind the man ending up in the street involves a grisly tale that Brooksville police say amounts to the worst killing spree there in recent history.

The incident that led to the unusual twist of fate began to unfold Friday night as a man shot and killed three people inside a Brooksville home and chased down a fourth on foot.

During that chase, the gunman managed to shoot his mark, but stepped into the path of an oncoming truck on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.

“And luckily for us, it ends the threat,” First Coast News quoted Brooksville Police Chief George Turner as saying. “You know, (the driver) probably saved a lot of lives.”

Police have identified George Mason III of Lutz as the man struck by the truck and the person responsible for the shooting spree.

Mason, 42, and his girlfriend Tarasha Townsend, 37, were visiting the home of Mason’s half-brother Gabriel Taylor, 33, when the shooting took place. Mason is accused of shooting and killing Jannie Taylor, 81, and Ralph Peyton, 29, before turning the gun on his girlfriend and killing her.

Police also say Mason chased down his half-brother, shooting him five times before the Dodge pickup struck him in the road, The Tampa Tribune reported.

Mason now faces three murder charges and one attempted murder charge. He and Gabriel Taylor were both hospitalized. Mason suffered a broken back, two broken legs and a broken neck as a result of the collision with the truck, First Coast News reported.

The motive for the shooting that closed off Peach Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard in Brooksville for some time Friday night is unknown.

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