HOUSTON — Houston Police said on Wednesday they believe the Sunday afternoon shooting of a woman on Interstate not long after a Beaumont family had their SUV shot up in the area are both related.
Investigators have not been able to determine where the shooter fired from though a Houston woman, who was struck in the face, believes the shots came from a pedestrian bridge above the freeway.
She was shot about 30 minutes after a Beaumont family's SUV was struck by several bullets in the same area.
Charlie Gould, of Beaumont, thought he ran over road debris but when he took a closer look he quickly realized it was something much worse.
"I saw the bullet and said that wasn't road debris, somebody shot at us," Gould said.
The family was on their way to see their daughter Sunday afternoon at the University of Texas in Austin when they were shot at on the interstate while driving through Houston.
Their sport utility vehicle was struck by multiple shots as they drove west on Interstate 10 near Lockwood Drive about three miles west of the 610 loop.
They said at they heard at least five shots. two of them hit the passenger side of their car not far from where his wife Teresa Gould was sitting.
"Look how far that bullet came to Teresa. I don't like to think about it because it scares me right now," Gould said.
Once the family was able to stop the car and call police they noticed bullet holes on the outside of the SUV found a bullet in the back of the SUV.
"For the grace of God that could be us because they shot multiple shots at us," Gould said.
Gould said this won't stop him from visiting family, but next time he'll just avoid that area.
"It's important when you go home hug your family because you don't know what time your going to be called,"Gould said.
The woman who was shot after the Gould's car was hit survived, but still has the bullet lodged in her cheek.
The grandmother said she was driving back from her sister’s house along I-10 near Lockwood at around 12:55 p.m.on Sunday when a bullet came in through her windshield.
She believes someone may have been shooting into traffic from the pedestrian bridge above the freeway.
“It was the bridge,” the woman said. “Somebody was shooting from the bridge because I was looking around and I don’t see nobody.”
Although she was frantic, the woman managed to drive back to her home nearly an hour away.
"I almost died on this day,” the woman said. "I don’t see my kids anymore, my grandkids. And it’s not good, it’s not good. Why did they do that to the people?"
