Police say the woman is lucky to be alive, but the man who tried to kill her remains on the run.
It happened around 10:30am at a Shell gas station in the 12700 block of the East Freeway.
Police say eyewitnesses saw the man hanging out here for about 30 minutes prior to the attack. It's not clear why he targeted this woman. Investigators tell us she did not know him.
At a nearby Jack in the Box, drive-through worker Anna Segura saw something she will not soon forget.
"It sounded like a big gunshot. I seen the gun, it was like huge," Segura said.
Segura saw the man open fire repeatedly at a car speeding away.
"I didn't know what to do. I panicked. Oh, it was scary!" she said.
Police say a woman was driving that car. They tell us she was a manager at the adjoining Shell gas station and that a man approached her, asking for money as she was leaving there Wednesday morning. Investigators say she became fearful for her safety, jumped in her red car, locked the door and began speeding away. That's when they tell us the man fired a .40-caliber handgun at least three times, striking the car once. The bullet pierced the car's exterior.
"There was no penetration. The force was stopped by the seat and everything else," HPD Sgt. Larry Gibson said.
Police say the bullet bounced off the woman's back, that she felt it strike her. Miraculously, she was not gravely injured.
"She's very fortunate, very fortunate," Gibson said.
The gunman fled on foot. So far, he has not been captured.
The owner of the gas station says they had no usable video of the confrontation. The only description eyewitnesses were able to offer police was generally that of a man about 6 feet tall, skinny, about 165 pounds and was dressed in gray pants and a red shirt.
___________________________________________________________
Find Kevin on Facebook at ABC13KevinQuinn or on Twitter at @kquinn001
