A drive along eastbound I-96 turned terrifying for a Detroit man last Saturday when he says someone in a passing car opened fire on him, according to Michigan State Police. Hit by a bullet but still behind the wheel, the driver managed to get off the freeway and take himself to a hospital. Authorities have not said how serious his injuries are.
Dispatchers were alerted around 4:55 p.m. that a man driving on I-96 had been struck by a bullet and was on his way to a medical facility, CBS Detroit reported. At the hospital, the victim told troopers the shooting happened on eastbound I-96 just west of the Southfield Freeway when a black sedan pulled up alongside his vehicle and someone inside fired a shot that hit him.
How investigators tracked the car
First Lt. Mike Shaw said troopers turned to license-plate readers and "other tools" to zero in on the suspect sedan, using equipment installed along stretches of I-96 and the Southfield Freeway. As WXYZ has reported, those readers snap images of plates and store the data for days or weeks, which lets detectives look back in time and trace vehicles through the freeway corridor after the fact.
Search warrant at Detroit home
Investigators eventually executed a search warrant at a Detroit residence, where they found several suspects and the vehicle believed to be involved in the shooting, Michigan State Police told CBS Detroit. Officials have not released any names or said whether anyone has been formally charged, describing the case as an active, ongoing investigation.
Freeway shootings and public safety
In recent years, shootings along I-96 and other Detroit-area freeways have repeatedly shut down lanes and triggered intensive evidence searches, with investigators often trying to piece together what happened long after the drivers involved have left the scene. Michigan State Police are again asking anyone with information to reach out to their Metro South Post or Crime Stoppers, according to FOX 2 Detroit.
Plate readers: fast leads, privacy questions
While troopers credit license-plate readers with helping crack freeway-shooting cases and other crimes, the technology has sparked a broader debate over surveillance and how long that data should stick around. Reporting by Bridge Michigan notes that Michigan has no statewide framework governing how plate-reader data is used, even as civil-liberties advocates press for clearer rules and law enforcement agencies continue to lean on the tool for quick investigative leads.
