Road rage incidents increase in Central Texas, officials say

A father of a victim of road rage is speaking out after his son, along with his 8-year-old granddaughter and 2-year-old grandson were followed and shot at on I-35.

AUSTIN, Texas - According to law enforcement officials, road rage incidents have increased tremendously in the Central Texas area.

An example was an incident that took place in March caught on camera. Austin police released video hoping to find the driver of a Lexus traveling across all lanes of traffic and hitting a Dodge pickup, nearly causing it to flip over concrete barriers.

Video shows Texas driver intentionally crashing into another vehicle

The video shows the driver of the Lexus traveling across all lanes of traffic and hit the Dodge, nearly causing it to flip over concrete barriers in Austin, Texas.

"You have to watch out for those other people," said Roland Waits, Captain of Support Services Bureau for Georgetown Police Department.

Waits says Georgetown is no exception to road rage incidents. The most recent case of road rage in Georgetown took place just this past weekend.

FOX 7 spoke to the father of the victim, Sean, on Monday. He said his son, 8-year-old granddaughter and 2-year old grandson were aggressively followed on I-35 by a driver of a black Honda Civic before being shot at by that same driver.

"On the other side of the door was my grandson. Every time I even think about it, you know, it just kind of starts choking me up," said Sean.

The bullet ended up getting caught in the passenger rear door. Georgetown police believe the type of bullet saved the child’s life.

Man open fires on driver in Georgetown road rage incident

Sean says his son and two young grandchildren were the victims of a road rage incident while driving northbound on IH 35 to Georgetown.

"We believe the round that was used is what's called a hollow point, so when it hit the metal of the door, it started to fragment inside the door. Had it been, what we call a full metal jacket round, potentially, it would have penetrated our exterior interior. And then through that car seat that that child was sitting in," said Waits.

Waits says this was not the first case of road rage involving a gun, and it unfortunately will not be the last.

"I just think stress as a whole has risen dramatically. In addition to that, I think that there are a lot of mental health issues just related around stress and just general well-being that is not being addressed," he said.

Waits adds if you find yourself encountering an erratic driver, do not engage, and call police.

"It's not worth putting yourself at risk to stop their behavior. Get out of the way. Let us know. Let us deal with it," he said.

If you have any information on the Georgetown road rage case, send an email to PD@Georgetown.org or call the non-emergency number at 512-930-3510.