CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A shooting in broad daylight was caught on camera in Charlotte's Plaza Midwood neighborhood.
It happened around 2:45 p.m. on Monday. One person shot into the windshield of a man's vehicle, according to a Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department police report. The shooting happened near the intersection of Central Avenue and Pecan Avenue.
A Charlotte woman named Vanessa, who did not want to use her last name out of concern for safety, was at the popular restaurant Milkbread when the shooting happened. She recorded the tense moments on video and described what she saw as road rage.
“I was definitely shaken up by the entire thing. And it's not something that you expect at 2:45 on a Monday,” Vanessa said. “I heard somebody lay on the horn for like 45 seconds really aggressively. And then a few times after that, so it caught my attention.”
She posted the video on Instagram Monday telling her followers she watched two drivers get into a fight, and shortly after, one of the two drivers fired a shot at the other car.
"It was absolutely crazy," Vanessa said on Instagram. "I was like really shaken up from it."
The driver involved in the altercation shared his side of the story with WCNC Charlotte, sharing his first name as Thomas. He said he was in the gray car seen in the video and that it was about two blocks and just a few short minutes of fury.
"It just started with a friendly honk, getting someone to move through a green light thinking they were on their phone," Thomas said. "I went around him and gave him a single tap -- and that was enough to enrage him to follow us, try to cut us off, brake check us."
Thomas admits that what he did next by throwing water at the car only made things worse, with the other driver striking back.
“He smashed the mirror off the side, dumped a bottle of water on me through the window," Thomas said. "I could have dropped it right there, but I grabbed a stick we had in our car."
Thomas took that stick and hit the driver’s back rear windshield. The driver responded with a single gunshot.
“Once the gunshot happened, most people either ducked or ran behind the side of the building,” Vanessa said. “The bullet hit the car that it was intended for. But had it been a split second different, it could have hit anybody.”
One person suffered minor injuries, according to the CMPD report.
Thomas said the bullet went through his front windshield where his father was sitting. Bullet fragments and glass got lodged in his face. Thomas said his emotions got the best of him and took full accountability for his actions
"I engaged instead of letting it go and it really ended with something crazy,” he said.
No arrests have been made.
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