LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A man was injured following an apparent drive-by shooting on an interstate in Louisville around midnight Thursday night.
An off-duty Louisville Metro Police Department officer was driving down I-264 East near the Breckenridge Lane Overpass when they were flagged down by a motorist, according to a press release.
When the officer pulled over to assist, they noticed a vehicle, riddled with bullet holes, and the driver of the vehicle who appeared to have been wounded by broken glass police said.
LMPD's preliminary investigation reveals the shooting may have occurred on the Watterson Expressway near Poplar Level Road.
The injured man driving the vehicle that had been shot up was transported to UofL Hospital police said.
He was alert and conscious with non-life-threatening injuries, according to police.
Katie Coulter lives off the Poplar Level Road exit; she said she was sitting on the porch with her family Thursday night when her surveillance camera recorded the likely gunshots.
"It just sounded like someone just unloaded a whole magazine,” Coulter said.
In the surveillance video, it sounds like more than a dozen shots rang out.
Her camera's timestamp, 11:43 p.m., is consistent with when LMPD says the shooting happened.
Officer Dwight Mitchell said he's glad the victim, and other bystanders, are okay.
"Even though it happened around midnight, not as many cars there obviously as a rush hour time, but you also would have been putting other people in danger at that point that had nothing to do with any beef this individual may have had with the victim,” he said.
That also worries Coulter; she said she's heard multiple shootings on the expressway, and she's worried people are getting desensitized to them.
"It's almost, like, typical, something that you hear a lot,” she said. “It's not something that you're comfortable with hearing and it's a little bit unsettling because they're kids around here, there's so much that could happen and it's just senseless that the violence goes on."
Mitchell said it's important for everyone to be vigilant.
"Nobody expects to be shot on the expressway, or anywhere, but in this enlightened day we live in you have to be cognizant of that fact,” he said.
It’s a reality Coulter said has to change, and we all have to figure out how to do it.
"There definitely needs to be something done about the violence in the city, but how do you curb it and where do you start and who makes a difference?" she asked.
LMPD’s Sixth Division is investigating. Anyone with information is asked to call the anonymous Crime Tip Hotline at 502-574-LMPD (5673) or use LMPD's anonymous online Crime Tip Portal.
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