A 22-year-old Chicago man has been detained after prosecutors said he shot an Uber driver during a road rage incident on the Stevenson Expressway, while two teenage passengers were in rideshare’s back seat.
Daniel Zaragoza was arrested late on February 6, hours after the morning shooting on inbound Interstate 55 near Damen Avenue, according to Illinois State Police.
Prosecutors allege the 34-year-old victim was driving two 16-year-old passengers when Zaragoza cut him off while the victim was merging onto the expressway at Kedzie Avenue around 8:36 a.m. Zaragoza then “brake checked” the Uber driver, authorities said.
The victim remained behind Zaragoza’s dark gray Toyota and exited at Damen Avenue. As he did, the victim allegedly saw Zaragoza’s rear passsenger window roll down, heard a loud bang, and was shot in the right thigh.
The wounded driver continued off the expressway, dropped off both passengers, and drove himself home, where his wife called 911, prosecutors said. He was treated at a hospital and released.
ISP used license plate reader technology to identify the suspect’s vehicle and entered it into a “wanted” database. A trooper located and pulled over the vehicle shortly before midnight that same day and arrested Zaragoza, who was driving, according to court filings.
Zaragoza allegedly told ISP investigators he had been driving his girlfriend to work when he fired one round out of the rear window during the road rage confrontation. He claimed he felt threatened because the other driver rolled down his window while their cars were parallel, his arrest report said.
Zaragoza gave police permission to retrieve a handgun from the bedroom of his apartment, according to the report.
Judge Shauna Boliker ordered Zaragoza detained on a charge of aggravated battery by discharge of a firearm.
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