Driver shoots teacher's car in frightening Oakland road rage encounter
Woman describes being shot at in road rage incident, Oakland police investigating
A road-rage incident on the streets of Uptown Oakland has left a woman really shaken. She said a driver pulled up next to her car and began firing his gun because he said she cut him off. The woman, a 4th-grade teacher was not injured, but says shes scared to driver to work now. Oakland police are investigating.
OAKLAND, Calif. - A woman shared her story of a frightening encounter on the city streets of uptown Oakland. She said her ordeal stemmed from a road rage incident that escalated to a driver firing his gun at her car.
Reinette Siwa said she's shocked by what happened, but is also grateful she wasn't injured.
She said she didn't realize a bullet had hit her car until she got home on Sunday just after 1 p.m.
"The bullet went through," Siwa said as she pointed to the spot where the bullet punctured her car behind the passenger door on the driver's side of her new Hyundai Ionic 6 electric sedan.
"Nervous. It's just something that I never thought would happen, have happened. Who knows, it could happen again," Siwa said.
She said she was driving on I-580 when she noticed an older, dark teal 4-door Honda with tinted windows driving extremely slow.
"I looked in my rearview mirror. That's when I saw him. I pulled in front of him," Siwa said.
That's when she drove onto Highway 980 and took the 18th Street exit.
She said she was in the far left lane at the stoplight at the end of the off-ramp when the driver got onto the shoulder of the road and pulled up next to her
She said he rolled down his window and said," You cut me off and now I'm going to shoot you."
Siwa said her first reaction was to apologize to him.
"Then I saw the barrel," she said. "I was like, 'I think it's a real gun.'"
She said she started to turn left and heard a noise.
"It was much quieter than I thought," she said. "It was like, ‘pop.’"
Siwa said it was only when she pulled into her garage and got out of her car that she realized the driver had shot her car.
She said since this incident, she has been scared driving to work in Hayward where she's a fourth grade teacher.
"Get him off the roads. He needs to be of the roads so he doesn't harass other people and scare other people," said Siwa. "It would be great if he would get caught and they would put him somewhere where he could get help."
Siwa described the driver as being a man in his 40's, on the smaller side in built. He wore a silver grill. She said he drove an older model teal colored Honda sedan with tinted windows. Oakland police said they are investigating this case.
Amber Lee is a reporter with KTVU. Email Amber at Amber.Lee@Fox.com or text/leave message at 510-599-3922. Follow her on facebook @AmberKTVU, instagram @AmberKTVU or twitter @AmberKTVU