17-Year-old Female Driver Dead in Road Rage Shooting South IH-45

The Houston Police Department is actively investigating a fatal shooting that occurred on Sunday, December 10, around 1:05 a.m. at 1700 Gulf Freeway (South Interstate Highway 45). The incident resulted in the death of a 17-year-old female and the injury of a 17-year-old male.

Upon responding to a shooting call at the specified address, HPD patrol officers discovered a vehicle stopped on the freeway shoulder. Inside the vehicle, an unresponsive female and a male were found, both having sustained gunshot wounds. Houston Fire Department paramedics, upon arrival, pronounced the female victim deceased and transported the injured male to an area hospital, where he was treated and later released for a non-life-threatening gunshot wound.

The identity of the female victim is pending verification by the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences.

Preliminary investigations suggest that the female was driving and, while attempting to avoid a braking vehicle ahead, unintentionally swerved in front of a newer model, black or dark-colored, four-door sedan. The sedan, positioned to the left of the victim’s vehicle, had an unknown suspect(s) firing shots from the passenger side window. Both the female driver and a male back seat passenger were struck, while a second male passenger in the vehicle escaped injury.

As of now, the suspect is described only as a black male in his mid-20s.

Anyone with information in this case is urged to contact the HPD Homicide Division at 713-308-3600 or speak anonymously to Crime Stoppers at 713-222-TIPS.