CHARLOTTE, N.C. – According to court documents and local news, a man charged with killing a father of three in a 2024 road-rage shooting in Lake Norman, North Carolina, a popular vacation town north of Charlotte, is seeking a reduced bond.
According to the Catawba County Sheriff’s Office, Terrell Eugene Giddens, 75, is accused of fatally shooting Jeffrey Michael Guida, 40, on October 12, 2024, just before 5 p.m., while Guida was driving his three daughters, ages 2, 11, and 13, in the back of a Jeep Wagoneer.
Eyewitnesses told authorities that they saw both men exit their vehicles, after which the suspect allegedly shot the victim.
Eyewitnesses also stated that the shooter fired “multiple rounds into the victim’s vehicle,” where the three girls were sitting. According to the sheriff’s office, no one was injured in the fatal attack.
According to the Charlotte Observer, Giddens drove home after the shooting, discarded his clothes, and changed into new ones. He took his kayak to Lake Norman’s shore, paddled to the 17B marker, and discarded the trash bag and the rifle he allegedly used to shoot Guida.
Now, Giddens’ attorney, Robert Campbell, says Giddens “is presumed innocent” and “has significant ties to the community,” in a new motion for bond modification filed in Catawba County, according to the Observer.
Giddens lived less than half a mile from the crime scene.
The filing states that Giddens worked for General Motors before retiring after 36 years. He was drafted into the Army in 1969 and “served active duty tours in Vietnam and Germany as a tank commander until his honorable discharge in 1971,” the motion reviewed by the Observer states.
Meanwhile, Guida’s family is seeking community support to prevent Giddens from being released.
“The man who murdered Jeff while my children watched and then turned the AR 15 on them is AGAIN asking for bond and to be released,” Jeff’s wife, Karen Guida, said in a May 9 post on the family’s GoFundMe page titled “Support Karen and Daughters After Tragedy.”
“He has already given a confession, and there were multiple witnesses,” she continued. “We again humbly ask for your support and if you can please come help us fill the courtroom again.”
Guida is originally from Lewiston, Maine. His family remembered him as a “devoted husband” and “loving father,” according to his obituary.
“Jeff loved playing with his children, hiking, cooking, motorcycles, traveling, weightlifting, and gaming,” according to his death certificate.
