A manhunt was underway Friday for a suspect police said shot a 22-year-old Florida man in an act of road rage.
Twenty-two-year-old Steven Simon, of West Palm Beach, was driving on Interstate 95 Thursday evening near Stuart when another vehicle drove up behind him, a witness told deputies.
Simon attempted to get out of the way, but the vehicle passed him before slowing down again, Lovelyn Salomon, 25, a passenger in Simon's car, told investigators.
As Simon moved further away, the suspect pulled up along the side of the vehicle and fired a gun through the window, striking Simon in the head, according to a Martin County Sheriff's Office report.
Simon's vehicle careened off the highway and through a metal barrier before coming to a stop.
The first deputy responding to the scene discovered Simon bleeding heavily and slumped back in the driver's seat.
"Officer help me, I'm going under, I need oxygen," he said, according to the sheriff's report.
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The deputy applied pressure to Simon's head wound and tried to get information on who had shot him.
Simon and Salomon described the suspect as an older man with medium-length white hair. He was driving an older model, beige colored sedan with round taillights, they said.
Paramedics then arrived on scene and transported Simon to a hospital. He remained in critical condition on Friday.
A statewide alert has been issued and all rest areas and gas stations are being checked.
Anyone with information on the suspect is urged to contact Crime Stoppers at 1-822-273-TIPS.
