Police said a semi-truck driver was shot in the leg Monday afternoon by Jose Israel Teran, 22. He has been charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
SAN ANTONIO — San Antonio Police responded to an apparent road rage incident that caused a major accident on the northeast side Monday afternoon.
Emergency responders were called to I-35 and Thousand Oaks Drive around 3:30 p.m.
Police say a driver in a semitruck and a dark colored sedan got into a supposed road rage incident. The driver of the sedan pulled out a gun and shot the semitruck driver in the leg. A tourniquet was applied to the wound at the scene.
The 36-year-old semitruck driver was taken to a local hospital and the shooter was detained. The gun was also recovered at the scene, police say. The suspect, identified by police as Jose Israel Teran, 22, has been charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
SAPD has gathered multiple witnesses and continues to investigate the shooting. It is unknown what caused the incident.
Christina Rodriguez co-owns a trucking business with her husband. She said he has been a trucker for 10 years.
She did not know the victim but said when she heard about the news, her heart sank.
“It’s really scary,” Rodriguez said.
She said she sometimes rides along with her husband and has witnessed first hand how dangerous the job can be.
“I’m able to go with him now and I experience it,” Rodriguez said. “And I never would have believed the stories he’s told me until I started going with him.”
She said they often come across angry drivers who cut him off and swerve around him.
“It’s just sad, he’ll come home with bruises on top of his feet because he has to slam on the breaks so hard because people, you know, they’ll jump in front and drop their speed,” Rodriguez said.
She added when she heard the news, she was not surprised.
“You just never know nowadays,” Rodriguez said. “It’s sad but it’s reality now.”
She hopes this incident will remind drivers to think twice about reacting with anger while out on the road.
“I just leave it in God’s hands and I do hope people realize it’s an 80,000 pound truck, it’s not going to stop as fast as the person in front of them,” Rodriguez said.