Massachusetts police are hunting for the alleged shooter of a 16-year-old Maine girl who was struck in the arm while riding with her family along a major interstate in what authorities are calling a road rage incident.
The girl was traveling with her family on I-495 north in Merrimac, Mass., on Sunday when she was hit by a gunshot from another car. Witnesses told police there had been some sort of highway dispute involving the two cars.
The family was on their way home to Limington, Maine, just after noon on Sunday when the teenager was shot. The girl and three other relatives were returning from a trip to Massachusetts in a white 2002 Nissan Xterra.
The teen, who has not been named by police, was taken to a hospital in Newburyport with injuries to her left upper arm that police say are not life-threatening.
Authorities, meanwhile, are searching for the shooting suspect. Police said the shot was fired by a male passenger in a white Honda Accord with tinted windows and possible Massachusetts registration plates.
The Newburyport Daily News, citing law enforcement sources, described the alleged shooter as a light-skinned black or Hispanic male in his 20s with short hair. He was wearing aviator sunglasses and a gray T-shirt at the time of the incident, according to the newspaper, and was riding in a car driven by a white female wearing sunglasses.
"Evidence suggests this was a road rage incident between the driver of the car the girl was in and the other car," State Police spokesman David Procopio told the Boston Herald. "We do not believe the people in the victim’s car and the people in the suspect car knew each other."
Traffic was very heavy along the interstate at the time of the incident. Authorities are urging anyone with information on the shooting to contact the Massachusetts state police barracks in Newbury at 978-462-7478.
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