On Thursday, authorities in Wellington, Colorado reported an event that resulted in eight injuries, the burning of a car and an ambulance, and suggested that the incident may have been the consequence of road rage.
The Larimer County Sheriff’s Office released a statement on X (formerly known as Twitter) stating that an unnamed suspect or suspects fired bullets at another vehicles, which resulted in the vehicle crashing and catching fire on a highway. The message was posted on X. According to the information provided by the Sheriff’s office, the fire spread to an ambulance that had been sent to the location.
At first, authorities said that there were six people injured.
According to the Sheriff’s office, no one in the automobile was struck by gunfire, but eight other people were transported to the hospital with injuries that were not considered to be life-threatening.
After the crime was committed, the suspect car is said to have departed the scene in order to avoid capture by the authorities. NBC News attempted to get a reaction from the Colorado State Patrol about the investigation, but they did not immediately offer one.
The authorities in the area closed down the highways in the region. According to the statements made by the Sheriff’s office, the routes were made accessible once more on Thursday evening after the fire was extinguished.
According to the Everytown Research and Policy Center, an organization that works to create awareness about gun safety in the United States, the number of people shot as a result of road rage has been on the rise over the last few years. At least 141 persons were killed by firearms in 2018, which is an increase from the previous year’s total of 70.
A research that was done by Everytown using data from the Gun Violence Archive found that the number of people injured in road rage shootings in the United States grew to over 400 in 2019 from over 170 in 2018. This is a significant increase from the previous year.