Las Vegas family faces tough questions after mom killed in shootout inspired by road rage

[iscooterliberally]

9. It's odd, but not as unlikely as you might think.

Last November I was a victim of a drive by with a paintball gun. I was out walking my dogs when I got shot in the stomach by some kid riding in the back of an SUV. I got yellow paint on my shirt and a nasty welt on my belly. I looked up and noticed that it was a dark green Ford Excursion. It was already too far away for me to read the license plate. I noticed the stickers on the back window though. I also figured it was some kids joy riding through my neighborhood. I called the police and reported it. Just because I would be OK didn't mean that they might not hit someone else in the eye and send them to the ER. I decided to go looking for the driver because I just knew they would be near by. I took my wife with me so she could jot down the tag number for the cops. I drove up on US1 which is 3 lanes in either direction, and I found the SUV sitting at a light with teenagers inside. The same stickers were on the back window, so my wife took the tag number down and we went back to the police, and they caught the kids responsible for shooting me. I did not confront them, or even let on that we were looking for them. They didn't know what kind of car I had so there was nothing to tip them off that they were being watched. I'm sure that Las Vegas is similar to South Florida in that young people cruise around in their cars with no particular place to go. They just want to get out of mom and dad's house and be on their own for a while. Chances were slim that I would find them, but I got lucky. It turns out that the driver in my case was 16 years old and had just gotten his license that day. It was the first and probably last time his dad would let him borrow the truck.