North Texas police offer tips to avoid road rage situations

Police in two different cities in Tarrant County continue to look for drivers accused of shooting others in separate cases of road rage.

Monday night in Hurst a woman was shot and killed and in Fort Worth, a man was shot hours later in the hand early Tuesday morning.

“We're actively looking at this case, you know? It does involve an aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. We want to find out who that individual is and bring him to justice," said Officer Buddy Calzada, the public information officer for the Fort Worth Police Department.

Just before 5:30 a.m. on Tuesday, Fort Worth Police said officers were called to the 5000 block of the South Freeway service road. They found a man with a gunshot wound from what they said was an apparent incident of road rage.

Police said the victim told them he was traveling northbound on the South Freeway approaching East Felix Street.

He told officers someone was driving alongside his car when there was some type of incident or exchange between both drivers. That's when the person pulled out a gun and shot at the driver's side. The man was hit in the left hand. His injury is not life threatening.

"It's very unfortunate when you get drivers out there that want to be violent. The roadways are for everybody and we need to keep it that way," said Calzada.

He said officers encourage people to call police to report aggressive drivers because that could be a catalyst for road rage.

"We encourage people all the time, don't overuse your horn. Don't give hand gestures. Try to be as courteous as you can, avoid the situation as quick as you can, and a lot of drivers do that, and they still are targeted, so to speak, by somebody that's just become violent and wants to be violent," said Calzada.

Zane Jones, the husband of the woman who was shot and killed in Hurst on Monday night, said it so happens that the person shot in Fort Worth hours after their incident is his neighbor's co-worker.

“I talked to my neighbor and woke him up when I got home from the hospital and he was surprised and he helped me pack my place up and he texted me about 6:15 in the morning and said, 'Hey a bunch of cops are here because my co-worker got shot in a road rage incident," explained Jones, whose wife Paola Nunez died at the hospital at about 2:15 a.m. "My neighbor lost his neighbor and his co-worker was shot in the same night for the same stupid thing. Serendipitous."

The shooter involved in the Hurst case remains on the loose as well.

"I need him caught, I need him prosecuted, I need him in prison. I need him to know he didn't just fire a gun into a car, 'The end.' He killed someone who's not like anyone. He killed someone who fought so hard to be here, who loved my kids, that loved me, someone who's building a life and a career for herself. Someone who had nothing to do with anything. Someone who was a passenger of the person he was mad at. I want him to rot," expressed Jones.

Hurst Police put out a statement Wednesday afternoon stating, "We understand the public is increasingly concerned about road rage incidents due to recent violence. What does road rage look like? Road rage often includes brake checking, following too closely, hand gesturing, and cutting people off."

They offered several tips including:

1. Drive safely, stay aware of your surroundings, and remain calm.
2. Avoid overreacting or participating in a road rage incident.
3. Slow down, take the next exit and disengage.
4. If criminal offenses occur, call 911 and gather suspect information.

Hurst Police continue to ask the public for information related to the deadly shooting on Monday night and to contact Detective C. Jackson at 817-788-7179 or contact Crime Stoppers at 817-469-8477 or 469tips.com. hursttx.gov/media

Fort Worth Police are also asking the public for help in the other incident.