Man killed, teen injured in southwest Houston road rage shooting
HOUSTON (FOX 26) - One teen is dead and another is seriously injured after a shooting that was instigated by road rage, according to Harris County Sheriff's Office deputies. The shooting victims, an 18-year-old man and a 17-year-old boy, were found on Friday afternoon on Dawn Hollow Lane in a neighborhood along Beechnut Street. Deputies say their 15-year-old driver took them to her family’s home after the shooting.
Deputies also say the road rage began around a mile from that home on Dawn Hollow Lane. They add that it started when the 15-year-old girl drove her Honda up behind a slow-moving sport utility vehicle. She then pulled her car up alongside the SUV, and words were exchanged as she passed it. Deputies say at some point, her 18-year-old passenger pulled out his gun and pointed it at the driver of the SUV.
The SUV driver happened to be a 39-year-old man who is a concealed handgun license holder. Deputies say his 88-year-old mother was in the passenger seat and when he saw the man in the other car point a gun his way, he felt threatened and pulled out his own gun, firing several shots into the Honda.
Deputies say the 18-year-old man in the front passenger seat and the 17-year-old male in the back passenger seat were both shot. The SUV driver then stopped and contacted 911 while the girl drove on to her family’s home with her wounded passengers inside the vehicle.
"If you find yourself in a road rage incident like that, the best thing to do is to just disregard it," said Lieutenant Chris Sandoval with the Harris County Sheriff's Office. "Move on. Don’t worry about it, because you never know who has a firearm like we have in this case, and somebody gets aggravated and produces a gun and fires, and you die, and for what? For nothing."
Deputies say they have taken both guns into evidence.
The SUV driver who fired the fatal gunshots is being very cooperative, according to deputies. Investigators are working to determine whether charges should be filed or whether this was simply a case of self-defense.