A resident of Central Florida expressed frustration, stating that it took nearly four hours to file a police report after his car was shot at on Interstate 4.
He believes this delay allowed the perpetrator to escape. The man, who goes by the name Henry to safeguard his family, recounted the incident from the previous week.
According to him, after merging onto I-4 westbound from Maitland Boulevard with a friend, he began merging into the Express Lane when another car flashed its lights. Subsequently, he heard something hitting his car.
“There’s this large sound, a lot like a rock hitting the car, but louder than normal and louder than a rock,” he said. “I said, ‘What was that?’ and Fred says, ‘We’ve been shot,’ and I said, ‘You OK?” And he said, ‘Yeah, just covered in glass.'”
Henry stated that he refrained from pulling over due to his nervousness.
“He’s armed, and I don’t know what he’s doing, and he obviously is experiencing road rage,” he said. “I have no desire to engage in road rage with him.”
Henry reported that he dialed 911 for help around 5:45 p.m. At the time of the call, he was near downtown Orlando.
According to Henry, the dispatcher informed him that the incident fell under Maitland police jurisdiction. Consequently, he reversed course and headed to the Maitland Police Department.
Upon reaching the department, it took approximately 40 minutes for investigators to ascertain that the shooting had occurred within the Orange County Sheriff’s Office jurisdiction.
Henry mentioned that it took an additional 90 minutes for deputies to arrive, and they concluded their report around 9:15 p.m. This was three and a half hours after the initial incident occurred.
“By the time they got it all reported, he was long gone,” Henry said. “While I was sitting there, I decided that I needed to make you guys aware of this because this is a huge problem.”
