DALLAS — A road rage shooting in southern Dallas earlier this week has a woman charged with aggravated assault, the other driver in critical condition, and a disagreement headed to court over what does and does not qualify as self-defense.
Laderrika Holland and her mom Latuita Holland say they were driving to work on I-20 Tuesday night when another vehicle swerved onto the freeway from an onramp.
"Like we didn't provoke him. We did nothing. We were literally just driving our regular route to work," Laderrika Holland told WFAA.
The women say the driver swerved and brake-checked them for several miles. A police affidavit says the man in a 2020 Chevrolet Suburban "started to aggressively cut her off" and that Latuita Holland, while still driving, "reached for her handgun and fired a warning round" at the other vehicle "causing the back window to break"
"She fired the warning shot and she said I don't want to die," Laderrika Holland said. "And then she said she didn't want her daughter to die because she felt like she was protecting me."
"But in hindsight do you think it's right to fire at someone's window? Someone's back window," WFAA asked.
"In that instance, I was scared for my life. And my Mom was too," Holland said. She says she called 911 for help and was on the phone with a dispatcher during the entire drive.
The two vehicles ended up on the shoulder at the westbound S. Lancaster exit where the women say the other driver got out. And that's when he took two or three steps toward their vehicle, Latuita Holland, still in her driver's seat, fired at him with her handgun.
"And then he lifted up his arm towards our car and that's when my mom did the shot," Holland said.
Police say the man, identified as Alejandro Arreguin Rodriguez, was shot in the abdomen. He was taken to a Dallas hospital in critical condition. Police say he did not have a weapon.
Latuita Holland's legal counsel, contacted by WFAA, says it's a case of self-defense. Other experts say it is not.
"I don't see any self-defense at all. Just because a car cuts you off multiple times, is not a reason to discharge a firearm at the vehicle," said Phil Ryan with the Texas Concealed Carry Institute. "If she was truly in fear of that person, and had her daughter in the car, why would she stop and let that person approach her? Why would she not keep driving and remain on 911 until police intercepted?"
Latuita Holland, arrested Tuesday night and initially held on $100,000 bond, has since bonded out of the Dallas County Jail. Her car and her phone were confiscated as evidence.
She is charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.