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Cops: Who's shooting at cars on I-96?
01:20 - Source: WDIV

Story highlights

No one has been injured but there have been "close calls"

More than a dozen shootings have been reported since Tuesday

The shootings have sparked fears of another spree like the '02 shootings that paralyzed D.C.

CNN  — 

A spate of random roadway shootings in southeastern Michigan has sparked fears of a serial shooter reminiscent of the 2002 sniper shootings that terrified the Washington, D.C., area.

More than a dozen shootings have been reported in at least three counties in the region since Tuesday, according to the Wixom Police Department.

No one has been injured, “but there’s been some very, very close calls,” said Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard.

“The scariest thing about it is the suspect, or suspects, are not targeting certain individuals,” said Brian Cheesvro with the Wixom Police Department Detectives Division.

Police say at least 16 incidents of gunfire have been reported along I-96 in southeastern Michigan since October 16.

In one of the shootings, a man taking out his trash said he heard a bullet “whizzing by his head,” Bouchard said. In another incident, a bullet went through the driver’s side of a car, eventually lodging inside the passenger side door. Five vehicles were shot Thursday along the same road within a span of about “two to three minutes,” said Clarence Goodlein, the director of public safety for the city of Wixom.

“Thank God nobody’s been shot, nobody’s been hurt. But it’s still weird when you hear stuff like this. It brings back memories of the sniper and everything that was happening in D.C.,” one local resident told CNN affiliate WDIV.

The D.C. sniper shootings occurred over a three-week span in October 2002, terrorizing the region. In all, 10 people were killed and three wounded. John Allen Muhammad, the mastermind behind the shootings, was found guilty and executed in 2009. Lee Boyd Malvo, who was just 17 at the time of the shootings, is serving a life sentence.

Michigan police are looking for a black Ford Mustang with blue-tinted front lights and a racing stripe down the center of the vehicle. Other witnesses have reported seeing an older model Chevrolet Cavalier sports car, police said.

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