Shot Reportedly Fired During Road Rage Altercation

Canton Township Police responded Oct. 27 to the area of Michigan Avenue and Interstate 275 for a report of shots fired, according to a police report.

Dispatchers told police there had been an altercation in the area and a gunshot had been fired, the report said, but no other information was available except that nobody had been shot.

A woman told police she and her fiancée had been driving eastbound on Michigan Avenue when a gold Cadillac began tailgating the couple, the report said. She told police she let off the gas and the car got closer and when both cars finally stopped at a traffic light, the rear passenger in the Cadillac began screaming profanities at the couple, calling them “white trash honkeys” and said they needed to be shot, the report said.

At a subsequent stoplight, the woman told police, someone in the front passenger seat of the Cadillac began taking pictures of the couple. The woman told police her fiancé stuck his middle finger up at the group in the Cadillac and the driver got out and started punching her fiancé in the face through the open car window, the report said. She told police her fiancé exited the car and two women from the Cadillac began assaulting her fiancé, the report said.

The woman told police she called 911 and during the altercation, she heard a gunshot and the group fled the scene in the Cadillac, the report said.

Police arrived at the scene and recovered a small knife on the ground near where the incident had occurred, but the couple said a knife wasn’t involved in the incident, the report said. Police found a single .380 shell casing on the side of the road, the report said.

A witness at the scene showed police a cell phone video of the incident that shows the man being punched by a large man and two women walked over and one began punching the man while another appeared to be attempting to break up the altercation, the report said, before the suspects left the scene.

Another witness told police she was directly behind the gold Cadillac when the incident occurred and saw the altercation, the report said. She told police she saw a man point a gun at another witness, then at her, the report said. The woman told police she saw a backseat passenger then point a gun at another witness who had exited a blue truck on Michigan Avenue, the report said.

The woman told police she followed the suspects to Michigan Avenue and Hix Road and lost the vehicle as it turned from eastbound Michigan Avenue to westbound Michigan Avenue, the report said.

Police ran the plates of the Cadillac and its registered owner and records showed the vehicle owner to have a valid concealed pistol license and a .380, among other guns, registered to him, the report said.

The incident remains under investigation.

For questions about this crime report, email john.mckay@patch.com.