Arlington road rage incident ends in shootout

Arlington police are investigating a late night Saturday road rage incident that ended in a shootout.

Allison Cooper says she was a passenger in her friend’s car when two others car almost ran them off I-20 in Fort Worth.

By the time they reached Arlington, Cooper said she was shot in the arm and was being rushed to the hospital.

"The bullet hit me and then I heard, ‘Duck!’” she recalled. "I'm not sure how many bullets there were all together, how many they shot. But three got the car."

Cooper says four people were in her car. She was in the back seat. Right after her friend who was driving honked his horn at the two cars, she heard gunshots and says her friend had a gun, pulled it out and returned fire. Eventually, the other cars drove on. In a panic, her friend drove her immediately to the hospital.

"I was just scared. I thought I was gonna die,” Cooper said. “There was a bullet. And once I realized I was shot, I was just so focused on getting to the hospital. I didn't know how bad it was. At one point, I passed out."

Arlington police have seen an uptick in the number of road rage incidents.

On Saturday, police arrested 23-year-old Jose Mendoza after investigators say he fired five shots in the air after a woman honked at him.

A task force was formed in June after 19-year-old Dylan Spaid was killed in a road rage confrontation on I-20.

Last week Arlington police set up a road rage hotline. So far, officers have made more than 500 traffic stops, issued nearly 700 citations and have made eight arrests.

“It's a real concern, the frequency and nature of some of these incidents that we are seeing,” said Arlington Lt. Chris Cook. “So we are hopeful and optimistic that with our road rage hotline and road rage task force will get a handle on this and see a reversal in some of these trends because they're pretty scary."

"I mean, yeah. “I'm gonna be scared for a while,” Cooper said. “I'm gonna be watching my surroundings for a while and just hope that I never see those people again."

Anyone with information on the latest road rage shooting in Arlington is urged to contact police.