Police Find Suspect In East Metro Road Rage Shooting, No Arrests Made
WHITE BEAR LAKE, Minn. (WCCO) – A shattered rear window is stark evidence of a road rage incident Thursday that easily could have turned deadly.
"He jumped behind my car and was getting really close to my bumper," said one of the victims.
She and another woman were driving their Ford Explorer to work around 8:30 a.m. and had just merged onto westbound Interstate 694 at Century Avenue in Oakdale, when the road rage incident began.
The victims don't want to be identified, fearing the other driver, who they say was in a 2006 white Cadillac Escalade.
The suspect's vehicle first began to tailgate the women and then passed them in the left lane. The driver then threw something at the women's windshield.
"He rolled down his window and threw something at the windshield and cracked it," one of the women said. "That's what started it - that's when I called police."
But it didn't end there. When the Escalade exited at the ramp at White Bear Avenue in Maplewood, the driver reportedly shot a bullet through the Ford Explorer's back window.
Fortunately, the two women were not injured.
Minnesota State Patrol officials say they found and interviewed the male driver Thursday evening. The man also allowed his vehicle to be searched, but the state patrol says no gun was recovered, and he was not arrested.
"No matter what happens, there is no excuse to pull a gun and shoot at someone on the freeway," State Patrol Lt. Robert Zak said. "But there was an altercation between both vehicles, both were participants to some degree."
Clearly, the incident could have been much worse.
"There could have been kids in the car, he could have hit somebody else, anything could have happened," one of the victims said.