A driver was shot after "tapping" the car in front of him in the 3rd Street Tunnel Tuesday afternoon, according to a man who said he was a passenger in the victim's car.
The witness told News4 his coworker was driving the gold SUV that hit a dark-colored, four-door sedan on Interstate 395 near the Massachusetts Avenue exit shortly before 3 p.m.
The woman driving the sedan got out and screamed at them, the witness said. Then a man who was her passenger got out.
“I’m thinking he’s coming to grab her out of the way, tell her to calm down, and before I know it, I heard the pow,” the witness said.
Instead, he shot the driver of the SUV in the neck.
Both got back into the car drove off toward Massachusetts Avenue.
“We have to stop guns from being in our city, where minor incidents, minor disputes, can erupt in gun violence,” Mayor Muriel Bowser said.
The victim was conscious and breathing when he was taken to a hospital, but he had life-threatening injuries.
“Critical condition, right now, but stable,” Police Chief Peter Newsham said Wednesday.
Police are looking for a dark-colored, four-door sedan with damage to its rear.
The witness believes the car had Maryland license plates.
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“I tried to get the tag number, but they had a bicycle rack on the back of the car, so I really couldn’t see the tag,” he said.
Northbound I-395 was closed for about three hours, reopening about 6 p.m. Tuesday.
Correction (6:24 a.m., Thursday, Aug. 1): An earlier version of this article misidentified the Interstate where the incident occurred.
