Video shows pickup truck passenger in Colorado throwing object at moving car, shattering windshield with a "boom"

A Colorado driver captured video of a dangerous incident that happened in Centennial this week when a passenger in a moving pickup truck threw a heavy object in the air and it struck her windshield. The object didn't break through the glass and the driver was not injured, but her windshield was heavily damaged.

Shannon Anderson was driving home on East Dry Creek Road near South Clarkson Street in the Southglenn neighborhood on Monday just before noon when the object struck her car.

"It was very impactful -- loud. Boom. Cracked the windshield. It just really shook me up," she said.

She believes the object was a Dairy Queen cup, but not an empty one.

"I'm assuming there were rocks or something heavy inside because of the damage and the sound it made," Anderson said. "It couldn't have just been a drink cup -- it was a small one, and it couldn't have held much."

Anderson filed a report with the Arapahoe County Sheriff's Office. Deputies confirmed her report and said at least one other similar report was made on Monday in the southern part of the Denver metro area.

"They told us she thought maybe rocks were thrown at her windshield," Anderson said of the second victim. "Her windshield cracked through, and it hurt her hand or hands. There was more damage to her than to myself."

Anderson told CBS News Colorado her mind immediately went to Alexa Bartell, a young woman killed in April 2023 when three young men threw landscaping rocks at moving vehicles in Jefferson County. One of the rocks crashed through Bartell's windshield, killing her.

"Immediately, I thought of the woman from a year or two ago who was killed in a similar accident," Anderson said. "That's where my mind went."

Now, she hopes someone can help identify the truck and the people responsible.

"There's a lot to be grateful for in this situation," Anderson said, "but I do feel like people should be held accountable for their actions, because it could have been a lot worse."

In the 2023 case, Nicholas Karol-Chik was one of three teens convicted in Bartell's death. He is now asking for a sentence reduction -- from 45 years to 35.

The Arapahoe County Sheriff's Office is expected to release more information about their investigation on Tuesday.