Shooting shatters out car windows, leaves drivers, passengers shaken

ATHENS, Ga. - An Uber driver transporting four passengers had a terrifying experience this weekend when someone fired multiple rounds into the car.

Athens-Clarke County Police said it happened early Saturday morning, someone fired several rounds into a passing Uber vehicle on the 500 block of Freeman Drive, with several passengers in the car at the time.

One resident who identified herself only as Jennifer said she heard the gunfire.

“I just heard the gunshots. I don’t know what happened. I was asleep though… It sounded like about 20 shots,” said Jennifer.

Police are still trying to determine the number of rounds fired into the Uber car, which shattered its rear window when it was passing through on Freeman Drive around 4:30 Saturday morning.

Concerned resident Becky Cox said she’s not sure what to think of the gunfire near her home.

“There are just a lot of people these days that don’t really care about their fellow man. And it’s a sad thing,” said Cox.

But was it more than a sad thing? Police told FOX 5 News they have no indication why someone fired the shots into the passing Uber vehicle.

“There’s nothing that they can be able to say that they were specific targets, whether the Uber driver was a specific target or whether anyone inside the vehicle was a specific target,” said Epifanio Rodriguez, the spokesman for the Athens-Clarke County Police Department.

He said after the car’s window was shattered by gunfire the Uber driver, with four passengers onboard, drove directly to the downtown Athens-Clarke County Police substation to report what had occurred.

Rodriguez said neither the Uber driver nor the passengers had specific ties to the Freeman Drive area where the shots were fired.

“As of right now we just don’t know why this occurred,” said Rodriguez.

For many residents here, it’s a disturbing why in a neighborhood with lots of children around.

“There could be an innocent standby just getting shot like that. Why is they shooting at them? That’s the big question. That’s bad,” said Brenda Raiford.

The Uber driver told FOX 5 News she has no idea why someone took shots at her car.

Anyone with any information on this is asked to contact the Athens-Clarke County Police Department.