KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Police continue to look for the person who shot an East Tennessee man in a road rage case last week.
The pursuit started on Alcoa Highway. The shooting happened near Copeland Avenue in North Knoxville.
The victims are concerned the suspect will hurt someone else, and they want to see him locked up.
They were on their way home from work on Alcoa Highway when Anthony Williams and his 20-year-old nephew noticed a silver car hitting its brakes in front of them. His nephew wanted to stay anonymous since he said he fears for his safety.
"Next thing you know, this car pulls up beside me and the guy starts yelling stuff out the window," Williams said. "He's like, 'Pull over.' And I'm like, 'No.'"
When they didn't listen to what the stranger was saying, he followed them to North Knoxville for almost seven miles. They said they drove off the Hall of Fame Exit, to Sixth Avenue, onto Cecil, Nadine, Washington Pike and near Copeland Street. The whole time, the man was firing shots into the back of the truck.
"We didn't see the gun at all, all we heard were gunshots, and then my right passenger window got shot out, and I'm like, 'OK, now I know what it is from here,'" Williams' nephew said.
The damage to Williams' truck shows just how close those shots came. Multiple holes peppered the bumper, and the glass is gone from the back and side.
A bullet lodged into his nephew's shoulder. The hole is still there where he sat. The bullet is still in his skin over a week later.
"I knew I was hit because I felt the blood on the back of my shirt right here on my shoulder, but I didn't feel it until after I hopped out of the truck," the nephew said.
The 20-year-old was the only one injured and was taken to the hospital. There, he said the doctors took X-rays and refused to take the bullet out. In follow-up appointments, he explained the doctors said "the wound is healing too well" and "there's no need to remove it."
“Now I'm the one that has to live with the bullet in my shoulder," the nephew said. "Not y’all.”
They will never forget the man's face that day.
"I saw pure evil, nothing godly about this guy and I looked him dead in the face," Williams said.
They keep re-living the moment, knowing it could have happened to anyone on the road that day.
"Anybody, and the sad thing is they haven't caught this guy," Williams said.
Williams wants this type of violence to stop.
Both are leaning on their faith to find strength moving forward.
"God is with me heavily and very, very strong to help me get through this," Williams' nephew nodded.
If you have any information that could lead to the capture of this suspect, call the Knoxville Police Department at 865-215-7212.
Williams said the man he saw was driving a silver car, either a Chevy Malibu or Impala. He said the man was wearing a red shirt with long dreads.
