CHARLOTTE, N.C. — It was a close call for a family after road rage took a dangerous turn Tuesday.
Bullets barely missed a couple and their 1-year-old baby when they were driving along I-485 around 10 a.m. As police searched for the shooter, the victims were shaken up.
It seemed to be a case of road rage that escalated quickly. The family said there were tons of cars on I-485 when a man started shooting at their car. One bullet got lodged in the seat.
"I hear pop, pop, pop," said Nidia Larios from Saint Pauls, North Carolina.
They were driving through the area to visit family. Larios said the car they were behind slammed on the brakes, and they swerved to avoid hitting it.
"[My boyfriend] went around him and got beside him and threw up his hands to say, 'What in the world?'" she said.
That gesture led to four bullets being fired directly at them minutes later.
"He was pointing the gun right at my door, right at my window," said Larios.
There were bullet holes in the side of her car and in the seat. Police had to cut the fabric to get a bullet out.
"The CSI woman told me you're really, really lucky because the way the bullet came and your seat was leaning back, it would have hit you," Larios said.
She said she would've never expected a small and seemingly normal exchange of road rage to turn into this.
"I was just scared, not for me but more for my child,” Larios said.
According to the Federal Department of Transportation, the number of road rage fatalities jumped dramatically in recent years. Luckily, there were no injuries in this situation.