An 11-year-old child was injured Friday in a road rage shooting on Interstate 5 near Tacoma Mall, according to the Washington State Patrol.
It’s the second highway shooting in the region to injure a child this month, following a Nov. 11 incident on Highway 167 in Renton in which a 9-year-old was struck by gunfire.
State Patrol detectives investigating Friday’s shooting are asking for help identifying and locating the driver of a dark-colored Chevrolet Cruze, the agency said in a news release.
The shooting was reported at 2:22 p.m. Friday. It involved the Chevrolet and a black Honda CR-V, both of which were being driven north on I-5.
“Exact details regarding what led to the road rage are still being determined,” the Patrol release said. “But at one point, witnesses say the driver of the Chevrolet opened fire toward the Honda, tragically striking the 11-year-old child,” who was sitting in a rear passenger seat.
The Honda’s driver took the child to a nearby fire station for help, and the child was taken by ambulance to a hospital with serious injuries.
The Patrol wants anyone with information about the incident to contact Detective Travis Calton at 253-538-3174.
The Nov. 11 shooting in Renton, which occurred at about 2:35 p.m. to 2:40 p.m., involved a black Dodge Durango and a dark blue Ford Mustang convertible with white writing on the lower portion of the windshield, the Patrol said in a news release.
A 9-year-old in the Dodge was struck in the face and chest by a bullet, and the suspected shooter fled the scene on Southwest Grady Way in the Ford, the release said.
The boy was still in the intensive care unit at Harborview Medical Center two days after the incident but was recovering, KING TV reported.