Identical vehicles shot in apparent case of mistaken identity

CHICAGO (WLS) -- Police are investigating after two nearly identical vehicles were damaged by gunfire in an apparent case of mistaken identity in the south suburbs.

Around 3 p.m. Wednesday, Illinois State Police said a shooter in a Chevy Impala was pursuing the driver of a Nissan Murano and hit the Nissan with gunfire on Interstate 57 around 127th Street. No one in that SUV was injured.

At some point, the shooter encountered a second, nearly identical Murano - driven by a grandmother who had just dropped off her kids and who had nothing to do with the other Nissan - and perhaps thinking the two vehicles were one in the same, the shooter opened fire and hit that second Nissan in the driver side back door. That driver was not hit, but was left shaken.

"I'm still shaken up a little bit. I just can't get over it, on the expressway? Come on," Patricia Lipscomb said. "Thank god my grandbabies were not in the car or my kids weren't in the car. I had just dropped them off."

Police said the man in the first vehicle was the intended target. He and the woman he was with declined to comment Wednesday night.

"I gave them a bible track, there is a prayer in there. Look at it, read it and own up to it, because this is a good day," said Calvin Heath, witness.

"I was blessed today. Thank god for that," Lipscomb said.

The southbound lanes of I-57 were shut down for several hours Wednesday afternoon as police investigated. All lanes were reopened just before 6 p.m.