It appears tempers were flaring after the two cars almost hit each other in the intersection. Words were exchanged and two gun shots followed. The shooting victim died at the hospital Tuesday night.
About 20 San Jose police cars converged on the intersection. Officers discovered a man wounded on the ground. He had been driving south on Senter Road in his gray Toyota Camry when another car tried to pull out in front of him from the Coyote Creek Mobile Home Park. A neighbor told ABC7 News she heard two shots fired.
"Apparently the victim vehicle swerved to avoid the collision, and then the vehicle stopped in the middle of the roadway at which time the victim exited his vehicle to engage the suspects in some sort of dialogue," said San Jose Police Lt. Paul Messier.
Police say the passenger in the other vehicle pulled out a small handgun and shot the man through the window.
"Based on the fact that the victim stopped his car, and there wasn't actually a collision and the victim engaged the suspects in some type of argument, this could be a road rage situation," said Messier.
The shooter and driver drove off. They're still at large. Police are not releasing their description. The only detail about the car is that it's a silver VW Jetta.
Residents of the Coyote Creek Mobile Home Park say it's challenging to turn in either direction on busy Senter Road because of the traffic volume. There's no traffic signal there; the nearest signals are to the north at Tully Road and to the south at Feldspar Drive.
Resident Teresa Eames has lived there for 13 years. She says it takes patience to exit her community, but she doesn't think shooting other drivers is justified. She worries that innocent victims, including children going to and from school, could be caught in the crossfire.
"No, it's not worth shooting people. What are you going to get out of it? You hurt innocent people, you know," said Eames.
