Woman almost shot on I-57 was case of mistaken identity

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FOX 32 NEWS - A shooting on I-57 Wednesday left a woman counting her blessings after a bullet missed hitting her by just a few feet.

“I still get teary up just talking about it,” said Patricia Lipscomb, who was standing in a gas station parking lot at 147th and Kedzie in Posen where the two SUV’s stopped.

And when you see her vehicle with a bullet hole in the back driver's side door, you can understand why it's been an emotional evening for her.

It all unfolded on I-57 southbound just past the 127th Street entrance ramp. That's where Lipscomb got back on the highway after experiencing car trouble on the way to work, which forced her to turn back home.

“I am just getting on, minding my own business and as soon as I get on there, like in the middle of it, someone come past and shoot my car,” Lipscomb said.

State Police say Lipscomb was the victim of mistaken identity and that another similar-looking SUV was the intended target.  Investigators said the driver of that vehicle noticed another car following him near 102nd and Indian in Chicago and so he got on the expressway to try and lose the other vehicle.

A witness who was on his way to work said it was like a scene out of the movie 'Fast and Furious.'

“As I was getting on the expressway I saw this Nissan Murano shoot past me and I started seeing it go on the shoulder to basically get past people. Didn't think much about it. Then I saw another vehicle, a silver Impala, go after it,” said Calvin Heath, who said the vehicles went on the shoulder to pass other cars.

Lipscomb said she saw the gunman hanging out the back passenger window and heard a boom, which she at first thought was a tire blow out.

“It went through the back door and stopped on the other side, so it didn't come out, so it's still like inside my door,” Lipscomb said, adding she was the only one in the SUV, “And thank God for that.”

The incident shut down southbound I-57 for several hours while police searched for shell casings. With dozens of expressway shootings in the last year, some people say enough is enough.

“This got to stop, this got to stop, today, not tomorrow, this is got to stop today,” Heath said.

As of Wednesday night, State Police still had not located the gunman or the vehicle used in the shooting.

Anyone with information should call state police at (847) 294-4400.