Published: December 23, 2008 08:02 am      

Huntsville man escapes injury in afternoon shooting

The Huntsville Police Department is investigating an afternoon shooting in which a Huntsville man narrowly escaped injury.

According to Detective Slavin Richards of the HPD, the incident occurred on Friday at 1:56 p.m. at the intersection of Trinity Cutoff and Old Colony Road near state Highway 19 just outside of Huntsville.

Two vehicles were traveling east on Old Colony Road, a black Lincoln sedan followed by a tan, four-door Cadillac.

When the Lincoln turned onto Trinity Cutoff, the Cadillac followed and fired several shots at the vehicle, striking it three times.

The Cadillac then sped away down Old Colony Road. It was the last time the vehicle was seen by witnesses.

According to residents nearby, five to seven shots were heard.

The victim, who was the only occupant of his vehicle, continued down Trinity Cutoff and eventually contacted police.

Richards and HPD Detective Roy Moore were dispatched to the scene and immediately began collecting evidence from the scene of the shooting and from the car itself.

Four .45-caliber shell casings were collected from the intersection where the shooting took place, and two bullets and one lead fragment were removed from the vehicle itself.

According to Richards, one of the bullets entered through the back windshield of the Lincoln, grazed the top of the front passenger seat headrest, and exited out the front windshield, leaving a thin fragment of lead behind.

The other two bullets that struck the vehicle entered through the trunk, where they were later recovered.

The remaining shell casings have yet to be recovered, and Richards speculated that the missing casings had possibly fallen inside the Cadillac where the shots were fired.

Investigators are not ruling out a possible connection to a series of crimes in Southeast Texas that occurred on Dec. 11 and 12, during which a Trinity man was shot, but Richards noted that since there are no suspects in this shooting, no connection can be either ruled out or established.

Richards urged anyone with any information on the shooting to contact Walker County Crimestoppers at (936) 294-9494).

All calls are confidential and any information leading to an arrest could be eligible for a reward.