Houston road rage incident ignites car; family rescued by 3 young men
Two kids are still alive, thanks to three young men who pulled the tots from a vehicle caught in a fiery road rage shooting.
The day after the Fourth of July, 17-year-old Desmond Davis, 21-year-old Jason Butler and 24-year-old Marquis Brown were playing basketball and video games.
It turns out hoops and gaming are the only things they can do to suppress the haunting images of two screaming toddlers with burns all over their bodies.
RELATED: Family burned when fireworks go off during road rage shooting: deputies
"The baby was screaming to me, talking about, 'I burn, it hurts, I burn,'" Butler said.
The three had just bought fireworks to bring home to their family.
As they were driving along Highway 249, they saw a car on fire. They immediately noticed the child car seats and jumped out to help.
"She just kept yelling, 'My baby, my baby,'" Butler said. "I told her, 'Ma'am, we need to step away from the car because the car is going to blow up.' Probably two seconds after that, that's when the fireworks started coming out."
The fire was the result of a road rage shooting.
Deputies say someone shot into the family's car after getting into an argument with the dad. On Friday, authorities released surveillance video recorded at a nearby gas station off of Ella Boulevard.
The new footage shows a burning truck as a Ford Explorer sped away from the scene.
WATCH: HCSO releases surveillance video of a road rage shooting that injured family of 4
"He (the father) said that it was like an argument. That he supposedly cut him off and then once that happened, that's when the dude started shooting at the car and the fireworks just went off," Davis told ABC 7 Chicago's sister station in Houston.
Without hesitation, the three men rushed the family to the emergency room.
"The youngest baby, like he was crying and then he would stop and then he would not move at all. And like the father would shake him up a little and he would wake up and start crying again," Desmond said.
The children were transported by LifeFlight to UTMB in critical condition and the parents were transferred shortly after.
This is a Fourth of July event the young men say they will never forget and hope this story reminds others to stop and help.
"My head is down this whole time because I just can't believe how could somebody do this, especially when they got kids in the backseat," Butler said.
"Thank God we were right there, at the right time, to help them before the truck exploded," Brown said.
Deputies are still looking for the suspect. They believe the suspected vehicle is a newer model, light-colored Ford Explorer. They say a woman and possibly two other people could have been in the shooter's car at the time.
