Driver shot on I-95 in Boca Raton as highway violence continues
A man was shot by another driver who fired at least four bullets at his vehicle this week on Interstate 95 in Boca Raton, the latest in a string of shootings on Florida’s most dangerous highway.
The 21-year-old driver was shot while at the wheel of a 2002 Volvo station wagon heading south, just north of the Yamato Road exit, about 5 p.m. Monday, the Florida Highway Patrol said in a news release.
The shooter has not been caught. The FHP did not identify the person shot, but Lt. Alvaro Feola said the victim remains in the hospital with a life-threatening injury.
The shooting was yet more evidence that I-95 has become a lawless racetrack where even shootings go unsolved.
An investigation by the South Florida Sun Sentinel last year found that the FHP rarely patrols the state’s busiest interstate, allowing dangerous and drunken drivers to speed or tailgate for miles without ever encountering a state trooper.
Fewer troopers cover I-95 today than 20 years ago, and no state in America has left its highway patrol as understaffed as Florida. Legislators and a host of governors have long ignored the danger. even punishing FHP brass who pushed to increase enforcement.
Shootings, like crashes, are on the rise, but the FHP says there is little it can do unless the victim solves the case with a tag number.
The agency provided no tag information in the shooting this week. The FHP said the shooter was driving a white four-door Honda.
Other states have credited gunshot detection equipment, cameras and license plate readers for catching speeders, aggressive drivers and shooters and making highway travel safer. But the Florida Department of Transportation told the Sun Sentinel that the agency doesn’t want the chore and expense of storing vast amounts of video footage.
The past year illustrates the danger on I-95 in Broward County alone:
Feb. 1: A pregnant woman was shot and wounded while she was a passenger in a car on I-95 near Hallandale Beach Boulevard.
Jan. 19: Two teenagers were shot at in a fit of road rage on I-95 near Copans Road in Pompano Beach.
Sept. 18: A man was shot in the back while driving on I-95 through Hallandale Beach.
Aug. 12: An Uber vehicle was shot at four times on I-95 in Hollywood but the driver and two passengers were unhurt.
June 30: A man was shot in the leg on I-95 in Deerfield Beach.
The FHP is asking anyone who may have witnessed the shooting Monday in Boca Raton to contact the agency at *FHP (*347) and refer to case number FHPL21OFF027792.
Anonymous tips can be given to Crime Stoppers of Palm Beach County at 800-458-8477 and online at crimestopperspbc.com.
Staff writers Brittany Wallman and Mega O’Matz contributed to this report.
