A woman was shot in the shoulder around 2:20 p.m. Sunday while driving on the outer loop of Interstate 495 near Branch Avenue in Prince George's County, and police are treating it as a road-rage attack. She was taken to a hospital with injuries described as not life-threatening.
According to wjla.com, the victim told investigators she believed the shooting stemmed from a road-rage encounter. She described the vehicle involved as a dark-colored Nissan Altima bearing Virginia license plates, giving Maryland State Police their best lead so far in tracking down the shooter. As WBFF reported, the shooting happened near the Branch Avenue area of the Beltway in Temple Hills.
Police Pursuing Limited Leads
No details have emerged about the identity of the shooter, and it remains unclear whether anyone has been arrested or charged in connection with Sunday's shooting. The exact sequence of events that triggered the gunfire, including how many shots were fired or what led up to the confrontation, has not been released.
Maryland State Police asked anyone with information to call the department at (202) 953-1903. For now, the vehicle description remains the clearest detail investigators have to work with as they try to identify the driver who opened fire on a busy stretch of highway in the middle of the afternoon.
A Pattern of Beltway Gunfire
Sunday's shooting is not an isolated case along the region's highways this year. Back in March, Maryland State Police reported three shootings overnight in Prince George's County, including a report that a vehicle was struck by gunfire on MD Route 5 at Allentown Road, according to a statement from news.maryland.gov. A separate release from the agency described a third incident the following morning, when a motorist reported being shot through his vehicle shortly before 1:30 a.m. on southbound 495/95 at Ardwick Ardmore Road.
In June, state police said they charged a Prince George's County man in connection with an alleged road-rage shooting in Anne Arundel County, according to the Maryland Department of State Police. And in April, investigators in Temple Hills say Polo Shaw shot another driver after that driver failed to make room for him to merge, a confrontation that escalated into a fatal shooting that killed Darian Ragland, according to the Baltimore Sun. Shaw is now facing first- and second-degree murder charges in that case.
Families Caught in the Crossfire
The danger has extended beyond drivers involved in direct altercations. NBC Washington reported that a family of four headed on vacation narrowly avoided being shot in their car just off the Capital Beltway in Prince George's County, after their vehicle was struck by three shots, including near the rear passenger door and window where their children were seated. The outlet reported that the younger child suffered minor cuts from shattered glass, though no one in the family was seriously hurt.
Police in that case said the suspected shooter was driving a silver Honda Civic with temporary Maryland plates and asked anyone with information to call state police. As NBC Washington put it, out-of-control drivers have hurt and even killed a number of people in the D.C. area this year, underscoring the risks that have accompanied the Beltway's recent run of roadway violence.
