A Florida man is carrying on his self-defense claims following a freeway shooting on Interstate 95 near Miami in June of 2021.
The man, Eric Popper, fired 11 shots at a car passing him on the right as the two drove down the highway. According to Popper, the driver of the passing car rolled down the window and fired a shot at him.
Popper recorded the shooting with his vehicle’s onboard dash camera system, but even with the footage, it’s not entirely clear what happened in the short amount of time before he started shooting from inside his own car.
The video plainly shows Popper crossing three lanes of the highway and cutting off the other vehicle. He appears to “brake-check” the car behind him as well. Immediately after the shooting ended, Popper called 911.
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“I was just shot at, my car was hit,” Popper told My car was hit. “I returned fire back at the individual.”
According to reports, the other driver claimed to have thrown a water bottle out of his window. No one was hurt in the shooting.
“Your average person just doesn’t think, ‘Let me prepare my firearm, let me back my seat up, let me give myself a little bit of space,'” said former Miami Police Chief Jorge Colina, who assessed the footage, pointing out how composed Popper appeared to be.
“He’s very fortunate that he didn’t strike someone,” said Colina.
Watch the video below and let us know what you think in the comment section.
This guy is just a criminal trying to hide behind the law. A loose cannon.
I am a former Special Forces para commander – probably before ANY reader was born. I also trained hundred of your sons in the early sixties. If he was ACTUALLY fired upon that was ATTEMPTED MURDER and he has EVERY RIGHT TO PUT THE BASTARD thug scum DOWN that tried to KILL HIM PERIOD! But If he just fired WILDLY -and endangered other innocent people then it was probably very bad judgement. i was not an eye witness – neither were ANY of you commenters. Our corrupt broken legal system has a reputation of penalizing the VICTIM and defending the PERP.
There is no justification. At no time was there threat of death or great bodily harm. He needs to be arrested for ADWWIK/Shooting into and occupied vehicle, plus have his CCL revoked..
Dumbazz! Put him in jail!
FloriDUH has definitely become the waste dump for the human race.
Road rage. There was one in Calif a guy fired at a car and killed a child in a car seat
His life wasn’t threatened at the time of the shooting. He was just pissed off in a power struggle. Needs fined, jail time, and banned from ever owning anything that throws a projectile.
Total over-reaction. I’d go so far as to call that premeditated attempted murder.
I like how he’s all calm, cool and collected, and then scares the sh*t out of himself when his own gun goes off. I wonder if he ever even fired it before.
Lock the idiot up. He shoved back in his seat because he was spraying himself with his own car glass because he was shooting his own windshield with his own gun from inside his vehicle!! There is no more insane person running loose on this planet!!
What an asshole ! Zero regard for anyone one else on that highway , they should revoke his right to posess a firarm and his driving privledges.
What a jackass.
A REAL DANGEROUS ASSHOLE SELF DEFENSE ?????
This guy just broke every rule in the book. Ready, Aim, Fire. Not Fire, Aim, Ready. He had absolutely no control over his firearm. I wonder how this would have turned out if he wasn’t filming himself?
PLEASE are you kidding me ,The police chief says he think this guy is clam First of all he is shotting all over the place up ,down to the right
JACKASS the both of them
Be careful out there You might be throwing
A water bottle at someone who is a little off
I am a big supporter of the 2nd Amendment an a CC holder. This idiot should not only be arrested but should never be able to own or carry a gun of any kind ever again. This was one of the most brazen, ignorant and dangerous things I have ever witnessed in my life. He does not deserve to own or carry a gun and I find it hard to believe that he has his CC permit.
Why does everyone say “im a ccw holder”, “I have a ccw”. It’s not freakn hard to get one, hell in AZ, u can literally get one online in 5 minutes. But I think this guys’ license to carry and right to carry shud be revoked as well. Looked like he was doing a damn driveby.
It appears that Popper was way out of line; however, I would like to get ALL testimony and evidence before I condemn his actions. Was there an incoming bullet hole in his car? That remains unclear. Apparently he was driving like an idiot. It would be good for law enforcement to do a thorough investigation of this incident. In his defense, Popper stopped and called 911 because he THOUGHT he was right.
He was hit with a plastic bottle, claimed he thought was a bullet striking. He was just trigger happy. Probably got his gun ready like this on other instances as well. Even if u get a bullet to ur car, shooting blindly like this towards others on freeway, hell even the suspect vehicle can land u in prison. U don’t know who else is in that vehicle, maybe innocent kids in there, nvr know. Ur still responsible for every bullet coming out of that barrel.
Anyone that brake checks should be shot!
Another paranoid nut looking for an excuse to shoot someone. Take his guns away and put him in prison! He makes the rest of us look really bad.
I think Popper is a fucking nut. He should never be allowed to own a gun or a car for that matter. He’s the guy who gives the rest of us a really bad name and gives ammo to the anti 2A folks. It’s just a matter of time before this guy kills someone and it will probably be over something stupid.
Popper is a good name for this fella. He’s popping his own hood there at the end of the video
What’s with “break checking” anyway! That was his first FOOLish move. I don’t care how rediculous other drivers are.
He should lose both drivers liscense and his gun rights.
With rights come responsibility which in both cases, this guy is not a responsible individual. No responsibility, no rights.
Tail gating is dangerous. It caused a 4 car accident last week and a ladys legs were shattered. I see big trucks and even small cars ridding peoples bumper and i wonder if they even took drivers education. If a deer jumps out and the car in front has to brake the car behind will hit them if they can not react in time. Tail gating seems to be never be a reason for a ticket unless if people do it to a officer. It is the person behind you that is responsible to watch ahead not vice versa.
U must’ve nvr been brake checked by a complete idiot before
By the grace of God this idiot didn’t hit another driver – or a kid. You can’t escalate a situation like this road-worrier did and then claim self defense. Firing wildly through the windshield like that was extremely irresponsible and I have no doubt they’ll make an example of him. His goose is cooked!
Totally dangerous moron fool.
he was a total angry idiot and broke just about every rule of engagement
It’s people like this who give gun owners a bad name.
Surprised this fool has any hearing left….
The way that he was flopping his gun around he had no true control over where he was slinging lead. Under the best range conditions firing like he did would not have given a single hit with any assurance of accuracy. Which makes his actions careless lead slinging. Charge him with reckless endangerment. Protect the rights of responsible gun owners!
It’s one thing to return fire after being shot at, but when you go out of your way to get at the other driver, you are the aggressor.
Both cars had holes in them … that wasn’t a water bottle thrown at him … it’s going to be ” HE SAID SHE SAID “.
His car had holes because he shot his windows out. Common sense get the tag and leave it to the police. Leave that Wild West BS on tv. That’s how you get innocent people killed.
He shot his own car, man!
Score:
Ego: 1 Brain: 0