HOUSTON – Houston police say road rage incidents are on the rise. More than 200 reported in the city last year, and many ended with serious injury or death.
Road rage was to blame again on Monday when a Katy man was shot and wounded by an irate drive near Katy.
Matthew Sammon said he was headed home when another driver tried to force his way onto a Katy Freeway ramp near Highway 99. He said the driver became angry when Sammon refused to let him in.
“It’s crazy, you know. When you really sit down and think about it, it’s just crazy that something like this would happen,” he said.
Sammon said the freeway ramp narrows from three lanes to two lanes to one, and that’s where the trouble started.
“I see another vehicle try to force its way in I didn’t let him in,” Sammon said. “I look over and I see him and he looked at me. I hear the crack and I feel something hit my arm.”
The sound was a gunshot, which passed through Sammon’s car door and into his arm.
“After I came to the realization I’d been hit, you know I got mad. And so I jumped back on Highway 99 and I followed him,” Sammon said.
Even wounded, Sammon said it wasn’t hard for him to identify the vehicle to police, as the owner’s business name and phone number were on the back window.
That information led police to 38-year-old Cory James Howard, who admitted to being involved in the incident but denied shooting Sammon. He is now charged with Aggravated Assault.
“If this guy would shoot at my vehicle what’s to say he’s not going to shoot at another vehicle, and next time there might be kids inside,” Sammon said. “It just makes me mad when I think about it, that someone could be that reckless.”
Howard is still behind bars with his bond set at $30,000. He could face up to 20 years in prison if he’s convicted. He is charged with a 2nd-degree felony, which means he could face up to 20 years in prison if he’s convicted.
Howard is due back in court on the 17th for arraignment.