STAFFORD COUNTY, Va. – A driver shot at law enforcement on Interstate 95 after Virginia State Police attempted to initiate a traffic stop Thursday morning.
At 11:31 a.m., VSP received a Be On the Look Out bulletin for an SUV possibly related to the fatal shooting of a woman in the area of Heron Drive, in Stafford, according to Stafford County officials.
A state trooper spotted the suspect vehicle traveling north on Interstate 95 near the 137 mile marker and, with the assistance of a Stafford County Sheriff’s Deputy, attempted a traffic stop.
Bullet hole in trooper’s cruiser.
When a deputy and trooper activated their emergency lights to initiate the traffic stop, the SUV pulled off to the shoulder near the 138 mile marker in Stafford County. The driver of the SUV then got out of his vehicle and began shooting at the trooper and deputy. At least one bullet struck the trooper’s windshield.
Bullet hole in deputy’s cruiser.
The trooper stopped, then sped up to chase the fleeing suspect. At that point a driver rear-ended the trooper’s cruiser and set off another accident where an SUV hit that car.
That SUV was driven by CBS 6 reporter and producer Amy Vu.
“I’m on vacation and I was coming home to see my family,” Vu said. “And it’s just crazy how you’re driving home and everything is normal. I’ve driven on 95 so many times and all of a sudden you’re thrown into the middle of just this crazy story. And I feel very lucky that nothing worse happened...”
Then the driver jumped back into the SUV and fled northbound on I-95. The suspect vehicle crashed and overturned near the 142-mile marker in the northbound lanes of I-95 in Stafford County.
The driver of the suspect vehicle was flown to Fairfax Inova Hospital for treatment of serious injuries.
The woman was transported to the hospital, and she was later pronounced dead.
No law enforcement or other motorists were injured in the shooting or pursuit. No law enforcement fired their weapons during the course of the incident.
The incident remains under investigation at this time.
Per VDOT Fredericksburg, motorists are being detoured at Courthouse Road, exit 140 and diverted onto Route 1. All northbound lanes were closed and one southbound lane was closed.
This is a developing story, so anyone with more information can submit a news tip here.
