A mother and son were caught in an I-95 shootout. She was shot in the neck, lawyer says

A woman and her 5-year-old son were driving southbound on Interstate 95 near Northwest 135th Street Monday evening when they were caught in the middle of a highway shootout.

The woman initially thought she heard a firecracker before realizing she had been shot and was bleeding. Moments later, she heard at least one more gunshot, according to her attorney, Willard Shepard.

Shepard said the woman was not the intended target of the shooting and was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. She wishes to remain unidentified.

“She was caught in the crossfire, she was caught in the middle of whatever, you know, dispute erupted into these people shooting at each other on the highway while they were driving on I-95 southbound,” Shepard said.

A spokesperson for the Florida Highway Patrol told the Miami Herald on Wednesday morning the agency had no updates on the investigation.

The 33-year-old woman, who was shot in the neck, was able to remain calm and pulled over to the shoulder of the highway behind a road ranger near 119th Street.

“She gives the road ranger incredible credit for immediately going into action,” Shepard said. “She told me that the FHP troopers got there within 30 seconds.”

The woman was taken to Jackson Memorial Hospital in critical condition, with her 5-year-old son riding alongside her in the ambulance. The unharmed child remained calm despite not fully understanding the situation, Shepard said.

The bullet, which pierced the front windshield, struck the woman’s neck but narrowly missed her spine. Shepard said he was astonished by how well the woman was recovering. He was able to have a coherent and alert conversation with her less than a day after the shooting when he met her at the hospital Tuesday afternoon.

Shepard said the woman credited her black Lexus SUV with saving her life, speculating that the vehicle’s height prevented the bullet from hitting her head.

“She’s moving forward in a very positive direction concerning her health,” Shepard said.

FHP believes one of the suspect vehicles may have been a white Honda sedan.