A 22-year-old Chicago man has been arrested after prosecutors say he shot an Uber driver during a road rage incident on the Stevenson Expressway while two teenage passengers were in the backseat.
Daniel Zaragoza was arrested late on Feb. 6, hours after the morning shooting on onbound Interstate 55 near Damen Avenue, according to Illinois State Police.
Prosecutors allege the 34-year-old victim was driving two 16-year-old passengers when Zaragoza cut him off as the victim merged onto the freeway at Kedzie Avenue in Zaragoza around 8:36 a.m. and then “slammed the brakes” on the Uber driver, authorities said.
The victim stopped behind Zaragoza’s dark gray Toyota and got out on Damen Avenue. As he did so, the victim reportedly saw Zaragoza’s rear passenger window roll down, heard a loud bang and was shot in the right thigh.
The injured driver left the highway, dropped off both passengers and drove himself home, where his wife called 911, prosecutors said. He was treated at a hospital and released.
ISP used license plate reader technology to identify the suspect’s vehicle and enter it into a “wanted” database. An officer located the vehicle, stopped shortly before midnight that same day and arrested Zaragoza, who was driving, according to court documents.
Zaragoza allegedly told ISP investigators that he was driving his girlfriend to work when he fired a bullet out of the rear window during the road rage confrontation. He claimed he felt threatened because the other driver rolled down his window while their cars were parallel, according to his arrest report.
According to the report, Zaragoza gave police permission to retrieve a gun from the bedroom of his apartment.
Judge Shauna Boliker ordered Zaragoza held on a charge of aggravated battery by discharging a firearm.
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