AT&T worker injured in possible road rage incident
MEDLEY - An AT&T worker was rushed to the hospital Friday morning after being wounded in what the Florida Highway Patrol said was a road rage incident.
Authorities told CBS4's Peter D'Oench that he was in critical condition after being airlifted to HCA Florida Kendall Hospital.
Miami-Dade Police have taken over the case and have not made an official determination yet on whether this was a case of road rage.
Detective Argemis Colome told CBS4 that's because investigators are still interviewing witnesses.
The incident occurred happened on West Okeechobee Road near N.W. 138th St.
FHP said that the incident involved the unidentified drivers of a gray GMC pickup truck and an AT&T van and the driver of that van got out of the vehicle and approached the pickup truck.
FHP said they got into a verbal altercation and the driver of the pickup truck pulled out a weapon and shot the driver of the AT&T van in the stomach area.
He was airlifted to HCA Florida Kendall Hospital.
Police said the driver of the pickup truck stayed on the scene.
It is not clear what prompted this shooting and what the two men were arguing about.
Colome said the driver of the pickup truck has been detained. It is not clear if he will face charges.
AT&T Corporate headquarters has been alerted about this incident.
A spokesman told CBS4 that the company had no comment and referred us to the police.
This incident happened as CBS4 discovered some troubling new figures.
According to Everytown Research, an average of 44 people per month nationwide were shot or killed in road rage shootings last year.
That is double the pre-pandemic average.
On average, a person was shot and either injured or killed in a road rage incident every 17 hours during 2021.
