ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — After a near-death experience, a road rage survivor is sharing the moments that led up to a man shooting at her head one week ago.
The woman spoke to 10 Tampa Bay anonymously. The St. Petersburg Police Department asked we conceal her identity because the man who shot her has not been arrested.
On July 5, the woman was driving in St. Pete. She said while crossing an intersection on 116th Street, a car sped up, forcing her to brake.
"I flicked my lights for the guy to go, he wouldn't go," she described. "So I tried to go onto 116th street and he tried to go and we were still met. Next thing you know, I hear this car honking but from further down the street."
That car honking is the vehicle that later pulled up to her and shot her. The suspected road rage driver sped past her, then made a U-turn to follow her. When the woman makes it to the following intersection, she sees the car that was honking at her now pulled up next to her.
"He's just yelling, screaming while my car windows are up," she said. "I can hear him through [the windows]. He's just throwing his hands up on me. I'm saying like, 'I'm sorry, I'm sorry, it wasn't my fault.' Just giving him the you know, the normal hand gesture that everyone does."
She said the light at the intersection turned green. She started to drive to make her turn when something caught the corner of her eye.
"I see something in my peripheral vision," she said. "I see his hand. Next thing you know, I hear a bang. I throw my head back. I pull my hands up to protect my face. I felt a lot of tingling, I saw blood splatter. I wasn't sure where it was coming from. So I pulled my hands down to like, make sure my face wasn't hit or anything around it. And then I see that he hit my thumb. The tip of my thumb was gone from what it looked like."
She then goes into shock, panicking as she processes what just happened. The car behind her pulled over to help. She and another driver call 911 to report the incident.
A bullet grazed her right below her eyebrow. She said the only reason the bullet didn't hit her head is because it hit her car first.
"So, the only reason why it did not hit my head was because it ricocheted off my doorframe and I threw my head back and it hit my thumb instead," she said.
Now, police need your help in tracking down this road rage driver.
"We know he was driving a white type of minivan type of vehicle," Yolanda Fernandez, a spokesperson for the police department, said. "And he is described as an Asian man, maybe 30 to 40 years old, with some gray in his hair."
This shooting happened at 9:30 p.m. on July 5 on 116th Street and 4th Street North.
"The charges are very serious because again, he fired a shot at her. And it could have killed her," Fernandez said.
The woman shot had surgery on her thumb Wednesday and will have additional surgeries on it before recovering.
"There's definitely going to be some lasting mental health effects but I know I'll make it through," she said. "Personally, I like to think I'm a very nice and sweet person. I love to help people. I'm always tried to be there for other people. So for this to happen to me -- everyone's just bewildered. And they're also very, very upset as to why someone would try to kill me."
SPPD said road rage incidents to this level of violence don't happen often. If you know anything about this incident, you're asked to call police.
Malique Rankin is a general assignment reporter with 10 Tampa Bay. You can email her story ideas at mrankin@10tampabay.com and follow her Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram pages.