No charges to be filed against road rage shooter

Macomb County Prosecutor Peter Lucido has decided not to charge a woman who shot a mother and daughter during a recent what was deemed a road rage incident in Sterling Heights. The two women were wounded by a single shot at about 5 p.m. Feb. 27 in a shopping-plaza parking lot on Schoenherr Road south of Hall Road after they stopped their Jeep

Compass behind the shooter in her Dodge Durango at a stop sign near Caraba’s restaurant, Lucido said Tuesday in a news release. The women exited the Compass, went to the Durango and began assaulting the driver.

“The Durango driver, in fear for her life, pulled her handgun and shot one time, striking both women,” the release says.

Following further investigation, including witness interviews and discussion with the shooter, Lucido and his staff determined the shooter should not be charged. Sterling Heights police had submitted a warrant request last week.

“Denying charges on the ground of self defense is a recognition of the inherent right to protect oneself when faced with imminent danger,” Lucido said in the release.

He added an eyewitness who called 911 told a dispatcher: “Those two girls tried to attack the shooter…. Those two girls were beating up on her.”

A bystander who tried to help the shooter when she was being assaulted fled the scene, he said. It was unclear whether that person was located by police. The shooter has a valid concealed pistol license, which allowed her to carry the weapon. The two women who were shot are recovering from nonlife threatening injuries, the prosecutor’s release said.