SAN ANTONIO – A man who was grazed by a bullet fired during an apparent road rage dispute on San Antonio’s Southeast Side Tuesday morning says he is stunned by the attack.
Noe Mendoza says he was on his way home from work one minute, turning from Roosevelt Avenue onto the Loop 410 access Road, just before 6:30 a.m.
RELATED: Shooting along Loop 410 on South Side likely caused by road rage, police say
The next minute he was trying to avoid an angry driver who purposely cut him off.
“I drove around them. They tried to cut me off again,” Mendoza said. “(I) sped up to get away from them. They got ahead of me and then they just, they started shooting at me.”
He says someone in the passenger’s side of a white Jeep Grand Cherokee pointed a gun at him and fired at least four times.
Several bullets hit Mendoza’s pickup on its hood, side mirror and front tire, flattening it.
He also was grazed on his shoulder.
“Felt like a burn but I didn’t realize I had actually been shot until I pulled over here,” he said.
Mendoza drove to a gas station parking lot near Loop 410 and Southton Road, where he called for help.
He says police arrived within a couple of minutes, closely followed by paramedics who patched him up at the scene.
“I have no idea what I did to set them off, but it happens,” he said. “We live in Texas where you don’t need a permit to carry a loaded gun in a vehicle.”
While he was shocked by the shooting, Mendoza said he is not exactly surprised.
He said he is glad, though, that he was able to walk away without any serious injuries.
Police are still looking for the shooter and the vehicle involved.