Police: Man shoots at family car after traffic dispute

Danielle Ferguson
Des Moines Register

A man shot toward a Des Moines family’s car Thursday afternoon after cutting them off at a stoplight minutes earlier.

The victim was driving his wife and children home at about 4:30 p.m. Thursday and was waiting to turn left northbound onto Indianola Avenue from Southeast 5th Street when the suspect’s vehicle, a white Chevrolet Lumina, cut him off, almost hitting the victim’s car, according to a police report.

The victim told police that he did yell at the driver to “be careful and drive safer.” The suspect began to scream back at the victim and then began to follow the victim with his car. The victim and his wife told police they saw kids and a female adult in the car with the male suspect.

The victim drove about a quarter of a mile to the 400 block of East Bell, so as not to lead the suspect to the family’s home. The suspect passed the victim’s car and parked about half a block ahead of the victim, according to the report.

The suspect got out of his car and began yelling threats at the victim. When the victim got out of his car, the suspect returned to his vehicle, grabbed a small, silver handgun from the backseat and ran toward the victim.

The victim ran back to his car and yelled for his wife and kids to “get down.”

The suspect fired two shots at the victim, and one bullet struck the family’s vehicle. The victim contacted police, but when they arrived, the suspect’s vehicle had left. Police did, however, find two shell casings at the scene.

Cellphone photos show the suspect vehicle as a white 2001 Chevrolet Lumina with Iowa license plate CVE556.