RICHMOND, Va. (WTVR) --A family is still struggling to understand an incident that happened on a busy stretch of Interstate 95.
Betty and Thomas Doyle were injured when something shattered the driver's side window of their Chevrolet Silverado on I-95 near the Chippenham Parkway exit. The Doyle's were headed south to visit their son in Florida on Oct. 10.
Charles Brinkmann, Betty Doyle's brother, says he never imagined anything like this happening to his family.
"You always say, 'never us.' Now it's happened to us,” Brinkmann said. "We're all praying."
The family is offering a $10,000 reward for information about what caused the injuries.
Families members and police sources familiar with the investigation said the Doyles were injured in a shotgun blast. However, Virginia State Police said the evidence does not align with those statements.
"The projectile shattered the driver's side window. The projectile also struck the driver and caused serious injury to him. Some material also struck his wife, who was the passenger, causing serious injury," Virginia State Police spokesman Sgt. Thomas Molnar said. "Currently there is no conclusive medical determination to suggest that the injuries sustained were the result of a gunshot wound."
Brinkmann said his brother-in-law Thomas Doyle was paralyzed from the chest down due to the injuries he suffered and that Betty Doyle is in stable but critical condition.
“She has pieces of debris in her neck,” he said in an interview earlier this week. “They’re trying to see if they should remove one, because it’s next to an artery.”
Brinkmann has faith that the $10,000 reward will be enough to get answers.
"I hope they find the person who did this."
Anyone with any information can contact the Virginia State Police at 804-553-3408.
