'Don't interact:' Driver in road rage shooting that killed friend warns other Houstonians

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- A driver is warning other Houstonians not to interact after a road rage incident that resulted in the death of a good friend on Saturday.

"It is senseless to open fire on another vehicle," he said. "You will get cut off in traffic in Houston. I don't care who you are. But if it happens to you, go on about your way. It can cost you a life, which it did with us."

Chris Dantzler, 51, was identified by his wife as the man who was shot when deputies said someone in another car started shooting at the vehicle he was in on Highway 249.

The driver of the car Dantzler was in, who wants to remain anonymous, talked to ABC13. He said Dantzler was in the backseat of his car and their other friend was in the passenger seat. They had just left a recycling center when the driver said he was trying to avoid traffic on the Grand Parkway before he cut off another driver on Spring Cypress.

"They made it known they were upset and blew the horn hard," the driver said.

As he continued down Highway 249, he realized the car that he cutoff was following him.

"I wasn't looking or aware of the person I cut off on the road, and once I got to the freeway, I recognized that's the same car throwing bottles at me," he said.

The shooter was in a silver Chevrolet Malibu with tinted windows, according to the driver. He said the car pulled up beside him on the freeway and a young woman with sunglasses in the passenger seat started throwing water bottles at his car.

"Initially, it's instinct. It's my property, so I pulled up alongside them," the driver said. "I drove up, saying, 'Why are you throwing bottles at my vehicle?' Then a shot was fired."

"I fault myself even still. I could have just backed off. It was just bottles thrown at my car."

The shooter fired at least three times, according to the sheriff's office. The third person in the car yelled and cried out for Dantzler, slumped over in the back seat. They stopped at a gas station on Tomball Parkway and called 911.

"At that point, I am freaking out and trying to get out of the way," he said. "We don't have firearms. I slowed down, they stopped. I sped up, and they sped up. I am trying to stay directly behind the car, in front of the car. More shots were fired once we got to a certain point where I was trying to stop and take the exit to get out of the way."

The driver said he regrets ever interacting with the people in the other car. He didn't expect the exchange to lead to the death of his close friend.

Dantzler will be remembered by his loved ones for his big heart and leaves behind a wife, two kids, and a stepdaughter.

"He had a good heart and helped anyone," Michelle Dantzler, his wife, said. "It's heartbreaking. He was my backbone. When you see one, you see the other. I am lost. I am just here."

Dantzler's wife said she doesn't blame her husband's friends for what led up to the shooting because she says it's not an excuse to shoot someone.

"People cut me off all the time. It's just senseless," she said.

If anyone has any information regarding the investigation, they are urged to contact the Harris County Sheriff's Office or Crime Stoppers at 713-222-TIPS (8477).

"If anyone knows anything, please say anything because it could easily have been your husband, your boyfriend, girlfriend. It could have easily been them."

Dantzler's wife said that her husband was the sole provider of their family.

The family has created a GoFundMe account for anyone who would like to donate.