BETHLEHEM, Pa. – Police say a passing school bus provided the clue that helped them catch the man who shot up a car with a mom and young child inside.
This all happened at a busy intersection in Bethlehem, and now the shooter behind that alleged road rage incident is behind bars on Wednesday night, facing attempted homicide charges.
“Road rage is something that we can all avoid. It does not need to happen,” said Bethlehem Police Capt. William Audelo.
Bethlehem Police said that shortly after 9:00 a.m., Jaime Paramo-Zamudio, 36, was driving his car in front of his mother’s car on Johnston Drive.
The two cars were at a stoplight, when a black sedan allegedly drove in between the cars, splitting Paramo-Zamudio and his mother up.
According to officers, Paramo-Zamudio stopped his car, got out and fired shots at the sedan that came in between them.
The sedan was occupied by a 42-year-old woman and her child in the backseat.
“We have a fairly simple and common road rage incident that spiraled and could have been much, much worse,” Audelo said.
After Paramo-Zamudio’s mother honked her horn, that’s when investigators said Paramo-Zamudio allegedly opened fire and struck the sedan’s front windshield.
According to police, the woman attempted to drive away after Paramo-Zamudio got out of his car with his gun in hand.
Police said no one was struck by the bullet, but the woman inside the sedan was hurt by broken windshield glass and was taken to a local hospital.
“The angle of the shot was directed at the passenger seat, we believe,” said Audelo. “If it had gone straight through, we’d be having a much sadder conversation right now.”
Officers found a shell casing and additional evidence on scene.
Police said they took Paramo-Zamudio into custody shortly after the gunfire, just shy of 9:30a.m., on Wednesday, thanks to the help of video footage from a passing school bus and local business.
Audelo said the video footage was key to making an arrest.
“The timing that had to take place in order for us to get the exact footage at the exact time, is almost like miraculous,” said Audelo.
“Road rage is something that we can all avoid,” he continued. “It does not need to happen. This could have been a situation where all of these involved parties continued with their day and a little bit of patience could have gone a long way,” said Audelo.
The incident prompted two daycare centers in the area, Lightbridge Academy and The Learning Experience, to lock down and shook-up business owners down the street.
“I saw the police were blocking roads,” said Sunny Patel, who owns Linden Beverage.
Patel has owned the beer distributor in Bethlehem for a few years and said police activity in the area is little to none.
He lives right down the road.
“This is my regular road from my house to this business,” Patel said.
After hearing that a man fired a shot into a vehicle just minutes up the street from his store, “when I’m going to be on the road, it’s going to be a little scary for me,” said Patel.
The incident also shook-up longtime residents like Ken Harryn.
“You see somebody doing some crazy stuff [while] driving, you stay away from them, because there’s too many incidents like this,” said Harryn of Bethlehem.
“We have a fairly simple and common road rage incident that spiraled and could have been much, much worse,” said Audelo.
Paramo-Zamudio is charged with attempted homicide and aggravated assault.
He is due in court for a preliminary hearing on May 27.
Bethlehem Police are asking anyone with additional information to call them.