GASTONIA, N.C. — Emergency officials tell Channel 9 that one person was hospitalized with gunshot wounds after a shootout between cars Sunday evening near a shopping center on East Franklin Blvd in Gastonia.
There was a heavy police presence at the shopping center off East Franklin Boulevard. Gastonia Police say that the shooting took place just before 7 p.m. in the Walmart parking lot.
Officials say that one person was shot but that the injuries do not seem to be serious.
On Monday, the Gastonia Police Department said the shooting was part of a road rage incident. Investigators believe people “in two different cars began shooting at each other.”
The police department identified two shooters, but only one of them is being charged. Makiah Dakota Lippencott was charged with assault with a deadly weapon and firing into an occupied property. The other shooter wasn’t charged, citing self-defense, according to GPD.
Channel 9′s Ken Lemon spoke to the victim on Monday, and she shared video that showed how quickly the shooting unfolded.
The victim, who wanted to be identified as Makayla, told Lemon that her boyfriend was driving along East Franklin Boulevard when a car got in front of them, another got behind them, and the two cars forced them to stop. The victim said a man yelled that they cut off his wife. She sensed things were going bad so she started recording from her phone.
“I wanted somebody to know what happened,” said Makayla, the victim.
The video shows glass shattering as shots were fired at Makalya.
She says two men in the other car fired at them, and her boyfriend fired back.
“(The suspect) meant to hurt somebody, to kill somebody,” Makayla said.
One round hit her during the shootout but didn’t hit organs or bones.
“It was in right here and out around through my side. I’m blessed to be alive,” she said.
Police determined her boyfriend fired in self-defense.
Police charged Lippencoat with assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury.
The judge set his bond at $500,000.
Makayla wants more than that.
“I want him charged with attempted murder. He unloaded a full clip in our car,” she said.
The suspect’s father, Howard Lippencott, said the boyfriend fired first. His son was protecting himself.
“What are you supposed to do if that individual fires at you, especially if you are armed,” he said.
Both the woman hit by gunfire and the father of the man who shot her say this was an unfortunate incident and everyone should have just walked away.
RELATED STORY: Man killed, another seriously hurt in Gastonia shooting, investigators say
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