Shots fired into car on I-77
A man says someone fired a shot into his car on Interstate 77 and the bullet was just inches from hitting him.
Chaos and gridlock: 2 groups were shooting at each other on I-77, CMPD says
The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department told Channel 9 Friday that since the beginning of the year, there have been 681 instances of someone shooting into occupied property.
That is a 4% decrease from this time last year.
Motorist Anthony Bernichio thinks an aggressive driver took aim at him while driving from South Carolina to his home in Chapel Hill early Thursday morning.
“If you’re going to scare me, you’re going to shoot in the air,” Bernichio said. “You’re not going to shoot at the vehicle. He was trying to hit me.”
The police report said Bernichio was headed north on I-77 in west Charlotte when someone started tailgating him.
“I had a car on the right and a car on the left,” he said. “I couldn’t get over, so I tapped my brakes,” Bernichio said. “He pulled up next to me, and I looked, and he backed off. I hear a ‘pop.’ Well, I thought he just shot in the air.”
Bernichio said it wasn’t until he got to his destination that he realized that the other driver had shot at him.
A round pierced his passenger side rear door and shattered a plastic bowl on the floorboard.
“The bullet hit the frame of my seat, so about four inches below where I’m sitting,” he told Lowe.
Bernichio said he would respond differently next time he encounters a combative driver.
“I’ll be a little bit more careful about brake-checking someone,” he said. “I’ll tell you that much. It’s unfortunate. People do drive aggressively.”
Bernichio says police told him there are traffic cameras where the shooting happened and that there’s a good chance the gunman will be caught.
