Mount Orab man charged with attempted murder in alleged road rage incident in Clermont County

On Tuesday, a Clermont County grand jury returned an indictment against William McNichols, 30, of Mount Orab, on several charges, including attempted murder and felonious assault.

The charges stem from an alleged road rage incident earlier in the month.

McNichols has been indicted on the following charges: attempted murder, a first-degree felony; felonious assault, a second-degree felony; tampering with evidence, a third-degree felony; and improperly handling firearms in a motor vehicle, a fourth-degree felony.

On May 22 at 2:28 p.m., the Clermont County Communications Center received a call from a male stating that he had allegedly been shot at while driving westbound in the 1300 block of state Route 32. Deputies from Clermont County Sheriff’s Office arrived at the scene and spoke with the individual, who was not injured during the incident.

The driver explained that while traveling on SR 32, a white vehicle pulled up next to him, and the suspect allegedly began yelling profanities, then fired one shot toward his car. The victim exited the highway, stopping at a business to call for deputies.

Deputies arrived at 2:42 p.m. and located a single projectile strike to the rear of the victim’s vehicle. The victim could not provide a name or suspect information, except that the suspect was driving a smaller white car, which continued to drive west on state Route 32 after the alleged incident.

Detectives from the Clermont County Sheriff’s Investigative Unit responded to the scene to process the vehicle and interview the victim.

With the assistance of the Ohio State Highway Patrol, Sheriff’s Office detectives located the suspect’s vehicle in Evendale and identified the suspect as McNichols.

There were no additional victims identified during this investigation.