FORT WORTH, Texas — Estela Tamayo and her family are still shaken up after a suspect shot toward their vehicle several times.
Fort Worth PD said it happened Tuesday around 2:30 p.m. at 100 North Fwy, along I-35W near 28th St.
It’s one of two road rage shootings involving children that happened just hours apart in Fort Worth this week. Fort Worth police said on Wednesday, another road rage ensued after someone tried to pass a vehicle, and an eight-year-old girl was shot in the leg. She was hospitalized and didn’t suffer life-threatening injuries, police said.
Tamayo told WFAA that a male suspect in an older black Lexus was speeding behind her family’s car. Her two-year-old daughter and eight-year-old nephew were in the backseat.
“He almost hit our car, we were like what the heck. We didn’t think anything of it,” Tamayo said.
She said they didn’t overreact and took the nearest exit at 28th St. Tamayo said the car followed them, cut them off, and stopped his vehicle in front of theirs. They were blocked from exiting at that point.
“He stopped the car and got out and shot four times,” Tamayo said. “My husband flung his body over me, my daughter my nephew.”
One bullet made it through Tamayo’s front windshield and hit the driver’s seat, but it ricocheted. At that same moment, her husband stretched toward his family, narrowly dodging the bullet.
Her daughter was hit by shattered glass, but no one was injured.
Tamayo can’t stop thinking of the words her nephew said seconds after they heard gunshots.
“This one goes, ‘Tia, please… I don’t wanna die,’” Tamayo said. and I was crying cause it was like you wouldn’t believe something like that would happen especially when you have kids.
Tamayo said her nephew hasn’t been able to sleep ever since the shooting, and he keeps having nightmares. The image of the young suspect has replayed in her head since Tuesday.
“He’s still out, and he could do it to another person,” Tamayo said. “The next time, he might not miss.”
Tamayo shared the story of their terrifying experience in hopes that it would send a strong message: violence on the road should never happen.
“It’s not worth it,” Tamayo said. “Control your road rage.”
Fort Worth PD said there have not been any arrests in either of the two cases.