Road rage shooting sparked by honking horn in Virginia Highlands, man says

David Howard is lucky to be alive after someone shot up his truck during a violent road rage incident Thursday.

"All of a sudden he started shooting. It was like eight shots the glass started exploding in the car," said Howard.

He said the unidentified gunman opened fire after Howard honked his horn at him.

The Atlanta man was at the intersection of St. Charles Avenue and Bonaventure in Atlanta's Virginia Highland neighborhood just after 6 p.m. Thursday when the two crossed paths.

"When I got here at this stop sign you could see this car was just rolling and so he got about here and that's when I honked at him," Howard said."

Howard realized a few blocks later the driver had turned around and was tailing him. The car followed Howard for several blocks, repeatedly trying to pull up next to him. Howard tried to lose him in traffic and was on the phone with a 911 dispatcher when that driver started shooting.

"All these shots just rang out," said Howard. "The glass exploded in my car. I zoomed over to the fire station told them what had happened. Waited for the cops to come."

Howard drove to this fire station on North Highland Avenue to get help. He showed us photos of the damaged vehicle.

"He shot out two of my tires and put a bullet hole through the glass in the back of my truck and hit my rearview visor," Howard said.

A bullet shattered his front windshield. Miraculously, Howard was not wounded.

The man fled the area after the shooting, but Howard said police told him area surveillance cameras captured the suspect vehicle. He hopes police are able to track him down before someone gets hurt.  

"Hopefully they'll get him. That's what I'm hoping, because definitely it scared me," said Howard. "It was a pretty good scare."

The Atlanta Police Department is handling the investigation.