MINNEAPOLIS — Investigators were looking for a gunman who shot a motorist multiple times in a road rage incident during Tuesday's evening rush hour.
Minneapolis Police 5th Precinct Inspector Todd Loining says a 39-year-old woman was driving southbound in a construction zone on Hennepin Avenue around 5 p.m. when a tan-colored Jeep Grand Cherokee with tinted windows abruptly cut her off. The woman says after she honked her horn, the Jeep pulled up alongside her and someone inside opened fire.
The woman was shot four times — three bullets in the arm, and one in the stomach — but managed to drive to a business at 19th and Hennepin where she called 911. She was hospitalized in stable condition.
"As everybody is aware, this is a heavily traveled area and we believe there are people out there who most likely witnessed this incident," Loining said. "We are asking folks to come forward and help us solve this case."
The victim describes the people in the Jeep as two black males in their 20s. The shooter, the passenger, had shoulder-length dreadlocks and fired a black handgun.
Loining says road rage incidents rarely rise to this level in Minneapolis, but said what happened is unacceptable.
"Stop the violence ... put the guns down, put the knives down ... let's find a way to resolve our differences," he said. "It's one thing to honk, it's one thing to have displeasure with another driver's behavior, but we never want to take it into the level where we're shooting a handgun at somebody."
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