An apparent case of road rage leads to a frightening weekend for a group of West side teenagers.S someone fired shots at their car early yesterday, hitting one of the teens. They were on I-74 near the Rybolt Road exit. Local 12's Rich Jaffe spoke exclusively with one of the teens inside the car.
When most people see the beam from a laser they think it's probably attached to a pointer... they usually don't think it's actually a laser sight attached to a gun. But that's exactly what it was early yesterday morning in Green Township and there are three bullet holes to prove it... two in a car, and one in a young man's leg.
The window of the white Nissan is non-existent. The bullet that blew through the door shattered it just behind another bullet hole. Grady Black was driving the Altima on I-74 with three friends inside when he says they almost collided with another car, a red Toyota, got behind them and began flashing his lights. "He was in the right lane I was in the left lane and they flipped him off out of the window and the next thing you know he shined the laser into the car, we thought it was just a laser pointer and I hear the window shatter and I took off."
Sitting in the front passenger seat, Justin Watts was lucky the bullet hit the car door before it shattered the window. he describes what he saw and heard. "Started the laser from the front, hit me in the eyes, first shot...then second shot...DID YOU REALIZE IT WAS A LASER? I thought it was a laser pointer at first. I didn't realize it was a gun. I thought it was a laser pointer in my eyes and pop pop...my window blew out and we didn't think anybody got hit at first."
But someone did get hit. The bullet in the rear went through both sides of the door and then through 17 year old Kevin Boegeman's leg. "I don't know, maybe 30 seconds after it happened I said is anybody hit? That's when Kevin said he was hit and he called his mom. We dropped him off at his house then we drove here and called the cops."
Lucky they had a story to tell... "He was getting off the exit and we were continuing on. He rolled down the window pointed the gun out, the laser came into my eyes and pop pop...that quick."
Jaffe talked with Kevin, the young man who was shot in the leg and he's alright all things considered. According to the young men, the shooter's car is a red Toyota Hatchback with a spoiler ... possibly a Yaris. The driver of the Altima says there were a number of cars around at the time of the shooting. So investigators want to talk to any witnesses.I f you have any information that could help, call Crimestoppers at 352-3040.
