ARLINGTON, Texas — A 9-year-old girl is recovering in the hospital after what Dallas police are calling a "road rage shooting" that occurred Sunday night.
Diamond Dixon was driving on Interstate 35E at the Mañana Drive exit when she says a driver shot into her car because she honked at him.
Her daughter, Rubye Rhodes, was riding the backseat and was struck in the stomach.
“My child started screaming like, 'I got shot, I got hit. I’m shot, momma!'' Dixon said. “The doctors told us several times that she’s very lucky to be alive.”
RELATED: 'Very lucky that she's alive': 9-year-old girl shot in road rage incident, Dallas police say
Hours earlier at a convenience store off Pioneer Parkway in Arlington, police say an argument about two car doors hitting in a parking lot led to a teen firing multiple shots and hitting a man in the foot.
Police say surveillance video helped them track the car and the recovered the gun used and arrested both the teen and 26-year-old Nelson Dorado.
“It’s unfortunate that an argument about a scratch on a car led to someone being shot,” Tim Ciesco, a spokesperson for the Arlington Police Department said. “This certainly escalated very quickly.”
The City of Arlington started cracking down on road rage two years ago after a 19-year-old was killed on Interstate 20.
“Unfortunately, this is something that we see all over the place,” Ciesco said.
The city created a task force that has issued more than 10,000 citations in its first year, and they’ve gotten hundreds of calls to a new road rage hotline.
“We’re really trying to nip some of this stuff in the bud before it escalates,” Ciesco said.
Cars reported receive letters in the mail. After multiple reports, the department then sends an officer to the person’s home.
“Hopefully something like this gives them that wake-up call, 'OK I didn’t even know I was doing this,'" Ciesco said.
Ciesco says the department won’t be able to stop road rage violence without help.
“Really think about the consequences of certain actions before you do them,” he said.
Arlington police want anyone involved in a road rage incident to call 911.
The road rage hotline can be reached at 817-459-5389.
More on WFAA:
- Victims identified in deadly shooting at San Antonio bar
- 'Very lucky that she's alive': 9-year-old girl shot in road rage incident, Dallas police say
- 2 dead after vehicle runs stop sign, crashes into another vehicle in Forney, police say
- Attorney: Hawks player suffers 'brain injury' in crash with drunk driver