COLONIAL HEIGHTS, Va. -- Jessica Butler was left shaken and scared after something shattered her car window on Interstate 95.
Butler said she believes someone fired a gun at her car while she drove north on I-95 near Southpark Mall early Tuesday morning.
"Thank God my kids weren't with me," Butler said.
She was near exit 53 in Colonial Heights, near the Outback Steakhouse, when the incident occurred.
"As soon as I got off the exit right before you get to where the Outback is, I was driving and I heard 'pow' and I heard my glass shake and I could feel all the air coming in on my face," she explained.
The front window shattered.
"I screamed," she said. "I screamed at the top of my lungs; I was crying I was shaking."
Butler said that she called Colonial Heights Police but was told to contact Virginia State Police.
A preliminary investigation by VSP indicated it was more likely someone threw a rock at the vehicle, probably from the overpass.
"The police officer didn't inspect my car, he didn't open up any of my doors, all he did was look at the glass and said 'Hey this happens two or three times a week,'" Butler said.
Corinne Geller, VSP spokeswoman, said a bullet does not shatter a window, but a rock or debris does. She said the trooper determined the damage is typical of a piece of debris or rock being kicked up and striking the glass.
Butler said she was frustrated because the trooper who responded told her there was not enough evidence to file a police report.
"He said 'well there's two type of police reports a criminal report and a traffic report and this doesn't meet the criteria of either one of them,'" she said.
Regardless, Butler doesn't believe a rock caused the damage.
"I heard a boom," she said. "I know what guns sound like."
As someone who drives with her children in the car often, Butler said someone could have been seriously hurt.
Police have investigated six random shootings along I-95, going back to 2013.
