Road Rage Driver Shoots Truck Full Of Fireworks, Burns Family Inside
A family of four, including two young children, has been seriously injured after a man shot at their vehicle during a road rage incident, causing the fireworks they had recently purchased to ignite.
The Harris County Sheriff’s Office has launched an investigation following an incident that broke out around 10 p.m. yesterday in Houston.
Police said that two men got into an argument near a Fiesta store on West Mount Houston Road. The pair then drove to a nearby gas station in their separate vehicles before getting out and continuing the dispute.
One of the men then pulled a gun out, prompting the other to get back inside his vehicle with his wife and two small children, aged 1 and 2.
The suspect then fired his gun at the family’s car. Police believe the gunshot ignited the fireworks the family was carrying inside the vehicle.
Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez described the incident as a “horrific scene.”
The father drove off briefly, but their car engulfed in flames forcing him to stop,” Gonzalez said in a statement. “Some good Samaritans came to the rescue and transported the family to a community ER clinic.”
The two children sustained major burns and are currently in hospital in a critical condition. The parents were also hurt, although the extent of their injuries is unknown at this time.
“The two children were [taken via Life Flight] to UTMB Galveston with severe burns,” said Harris County Sheriff’s Office Violent Crimes Detective Tom Turner, reported Click 2 Houston. “The mother was also transported [and] the father has since been transported.”
The suspect, described as either mixed race or Hispanic in his 20s, was driving a light-colored Ford Expedition with a woman and two children inside.
The Harris County Sheriff’s Office added in a statement: “If anyone has any information about this horrific incident that occurred tonight, please contact CrimeStoppers Houston. Your tip could help solve this crime and could be worth up to $5000. Two innocent children were hurt in this incident. Please provide any info you might have.”
Anyone with info is urged to call 713-221-6000 or CrimeStoppers 713-222-8477.
Elsewhere, the Harris County Sheriff’s Office also dealt with an incident in which a suspected robber was shot with his own gun after attempting to rob a fireworks stand on July 4.
Deputies said that fireworks stand employee was able to “take possession of the would-be robber’s pistol and shot him with it,” leaving the teenage suspect in a critical condition.
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