THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, June 20, 1996 TAG: 9606200460
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B7 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: 56 lines
Gunshots were fired at three cars on Interstate 95 and at another near U.S. 360 in Virginia during the weekend.
Police spokeswoman Lucy Caldwell said a passenger in a red Ford Thunderbird fired at a motorist heading south on I-95 about 25 miles south of Washington Friday evening. The man fired upon was unhurt.
Two cars were shot at on I-95 near the Quantico exit - one on Friday evening and another on Saturday - and bullets shattered a car window and injured a woman near the Hanover-King William county line Friday, Caldwell said.
No arrests had been made Tuesday in any of the incidents. Police withheld the names of the people whose cars were fired upon.
A motorist entering the interstate at the Dumfries exit told police the Thunderbird came up behind him at high speed, and a man yelled from its passenger window as the car slowed and passed. The man ignored the shouts but ducked when he saw a muzzle flash. The shot missed the car.
``What's really disturbing about this incident is that this individual didn't do anything wrong - he was merely trying to accelerate on the on-ramp,'' Caldwell said.
She said police received only a scant description of the gunman.
``We usually urge motorists to get license plate information, but this man did the right thing. We understand it can be very dangerous and we don't want people to risk their lives to get it,'' Caldwell said.
There have been at least 14 reported highway shootings in Virginia this year, including one in which a Fredericksburg man was shot in the hip by a passing motorist, Caldwell said. There were 38 such incidents last year.
A bullet grazed the arm of a woman driving near U.S. 360 on the Hanover-King William county line at about 6:30 p.m. Friday, state police spokeswoman Mary Evans said. Glass from the car's shattered rear window slightly injured a child who was in the car.
``This is near an area where there is a lot of groundhog hunting. I believe something like two bullets were recovered, and they were from a rifle,'' Evans said.
There were two shootings reported near the I-95 intersection with Route 619, Caldwell said. On Friday, a man who was driving alone said he heard what he believed were gunshots, and then his car's passenger-side window shattered. Police said the shot appeared to have come from woods nearby.
The next night, a man entering the freeway from Route 619 heard gunfire, but his vehicle was not struck, she said. No one was injured in either incident.
``We have had problems with juveniles with BB guns in that area in the past - we don't know if that's what this was,'' Caldwell said. ``A BB can be dangerous, can cause injury or accidents. That's a shock to a motorist when you hear a shot and a window shatters.''
KEYWORDS: SHOOTING HIGHWAY by CNB