COLUMBIA, S.C. — An Orangeburg family says they're lucky to be alive after being shot at on I-77 on Friday.
Sandra Johnson and her family were on the way to Charlotte from Orangeburg to catch a flight to Florida for a funeral.
Johnson says she was merging onto I-77 from I-26 when, moments later, a driver moved into the right lane and started shooting into her car.
"This car just came up on the side of me and started blowing the horn at me, so I got back in my lane," Johnson said.
Then the chaos started. "We could see him reaching for something in his car," Johnson said. "He got in the right lane, and I was in the left lane ... and then he started shooting."
"I was terrified. My little nephew was in the back, and one of the bullets was in the side where he was sitting. My fiancé in the front got glass all over him. There was blood everywhere."
According to the Richland County Sheriff’s Department, deputies were called to Percival Road and I-77 for reports of a shooting around 11 a.m. Friday. Upon their arrival, they say they learned that a possible road rage incident ended in a vehicle being struck with bullets. Witnesses told deputies that one vehicle cut off the other, and it escalated from there.
Though no one was hit, one person was injured when hit with glass from the shattered windshield. That person was transported to a local hospital for treatment.
Johnson, now in Florida, says never, ever, did she think this would ever happen to her. "You would watch this on TV, but you wouldn't believe it would happen to you," she said.
"I am just thanking God right now because not only me and my family could've died," Johnson said. "There were several people that could've died also."
This is one of two shootings on Interstate 77 in just a matter of hours, although at this point, there's nothing believe to connect the two cases.
The investigation remains ongoing. If you have any information about the shooting, authorities ask you to contact Crimestoppers anonymously in any of the following ways:
- Call 888-CRIME-SC (888-274-6372).
- Use the P3 Tips mobile app.
- LOG ON to www.midlandscrimestoppers.com, and click on the red “Submit a Tip” tab.