‘God was the one that had us covered’: Mother, 1-year-old son escape unharmed after shooting on interstate

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WBRC/Gray News) - A mother in Alabama is counting her blessings after her car was shot at while driving on Interstate 65 with her baby asleep in his car seat in the backseat.

“God was the one that had us covered the whole way,” said Tiya Bradford.

Bradford and her 1-year-old son are safe after the harrowing ordeal, but she says she hopes the man who put her family in danger is caught soon.

“My son is my biggest priority. I’m so glad that he was safe,” said Bradford.

She described the man as driving erratically and almost hitting her.

“I tried to speed up and get past him because I didn’t want him to hit me and my baby,” Bradford said.

Bradford says she tried to get away from him.

“He swerved back in front of me, no turn signal or anything, so I honked my horn because he was about to hit me. I had to step on my brakes and honk my horn, I guess that’s what set him off,” said Bradford.

That’s when Bradford says the man drove up alongside her car, rolled down his window, and began shouting at her.

“At that exact moment, my heart dropped and something told me to floor my gas, as soon as I floored my gas, he said pop pop and shot the car, I realized my glass was shattered,” said Bradford.

The bullets struck the door where her son was asleep in his car seat.

“My first thought was ‘Is my baby OK?’ I don’t know where the bullets went, I just know the glass shattered, it had to hit the door,” Bradford recounts. “I want to pull over and check on my baby, but if I pull over and check on my baby, is he gonna speed back up and come shoot at us?”

At least two bullets hit Bradford’s car.

Miraculously, she and her son were able to escape uninjured.

As she counts her blessings, she says she until the suspect is caught, he’s a danger to everyone.

“Opening fire on an interstate in public when so many other lives are in jeopardy, I feel like it’s just insane to me,” Bradford said. “Whether or not you knew I had a baby in the car, opening fire on someone in general is crazy.”

Birmingham police confirmed that they are investigating the shooting.