NEW ORLEANS — A woman is in critical condition after being shot while driving on I-10 Wednesday near the Carrollton exit. NOPD investigators believe she was likely targeted and deliberately shot. Police still don't know the motive.
This marks the 13th shooting on a New Orleans interstate this year. Three people have died.
"Police need to be vigilant and we need better technology to catch these individuals," said Dr. Peter Scharf, Criminologist at LSU Health.
Dr. Scharf believes criminals use the interstate as an easy getaway.
"Escape is relatively easy," he said. "Ultimate anonymous shooting."
After an interstate shooting in New Orleans two weeks ago, NOPD told us in a statement, "There has been no indication that these interstate shootings are random acts or that a single source is responsible."
NOPD investigators think the cases are road rage, pre-existing feuds with people committing crimes of opportunity against someone they know, and in some cases, with innocent people getting caught in the line of fire.
"The shooters don't always care about the collateral damage," said Rafael Goyeneche with the watchdog group, Metropolitan Crime Commission. "If you can't find out who the shooters are, you can't remove them. At a time when the police department is at a 50-year staffing low, they need every available resource to them."
Shootings like this aren't just happening here. Last week on a Houston freeway, a pastor was shot and killed in what's described as a case of road rage. In May, a shooting on a Nevada highway sent seven people to the hospital. In Washington State, troopers are seeing an alarming rate of interstate shootings.
"It is through the roof. We're having more and more of these type of situations every day. Shootings are up. Road rage incidents are up," Washington State Trooper Richard Allen said earlier this year.
Last month, California’s governor announced he’d provide funding to install cameras on freeways following 48 freeway shootings in a year in the San Francisco area.
NOPD Superintendent Shaun Ferguson wants interstate license plate readers too. In October he requested $1 million to purchase 150 automatic readers. It's unclear when those readers will be installed.
NOPD has not announced any arrests in any of this year's interstate shootings and they have not released a suspect in last night's shooting.