Eight people were injured and a car and an ambulance went up in flames due to a possible road-rage shooting in Colorado, authorities said
The incident spiraled out of control when the suspect or suspects fired at another vehicle on the highway in Wellington Thursday evening, causing the victimâs car to crash and catch on fire, the Larimer Sheriffâs Office tweeted.
Photos from the crash site show the burned-out car still smoking while it rests in a large patch of burned grass.
The suspect vehicle fled the scene before it could be apprehended, the local officials added.
None of the six passengers in the victim car were struck by gunfire, but they were treated for non-life threatening injuries from the crash, the statement continued.
An ambulance that responded to the fiery wreck also caught fire, though no one was injured.
In total, eight people were transported to the hospital as a result of the incident, the Larimer Sheriffâs Office said.
It is not clear if the two other injured parties were first responders or other motorists.
âInvestigators are still collecting witness information and processing the scene for evidence. We will share more information as it becomes available,â the office wrote Thursday night.
The accident prompted officials to shut down nearby highways, which were all reopened by around 12:30 a.m. Friday.
Road-rage shootings are a growing concern in the US:, More than 400 people were injured in such incidents in 2022 â up from over 170 in 2018, according to data from Everytown Research and Policy.
Last month, a Texas woman was fatally shot in the head after her husband flipped off a fellow driver.
âHe slowed down until we were about like that, and he shot through my back left window and hit my wife in the back of the head,â the victimâs husband later recalled of the harrowing encounter.
