DENVER — Colorado has seen how devastating and deadly rock-throwing can be.
One mother in Castle Rock worries her family was inches away from becoming victims of a senseless crime while driving down Interstate 25 on Thursday.
"My daughter, my 16-year-old daughter, who was sitting in the back left seat, called me to say, 'Mom, something just hit our back windshield. I don’t know if it was a rock or a bullet, but it was really loud, and I don’t know what to do,'" Rebeca recalled.
Rebeca said her family believes someone threw a rock at their car while they were driving north on Interstate 25 near the Colorado Boulevard and Evans Avenue bridges. Rebeca's parents and her two daughters were in the car at the time.
She didn't want to provide her last name to 9NEWS out of fear the suspected rock throwers may retaliate.
"We’re assuming it was a rock because that’s what’s been happening lately," Rebeca said. "But if you look at the upper left hand corner you do see a round indentation."
Rebeca said the impact cracked the windshield, but it didn't shatter until everyone was safely out of the car.
"Thankfully, the windshield withheld the impact. If the rock or bullet or whatever it was went in, it would have killed my daughter," Rebeca said. "If it had hit the front windshield, it would have killed my father or he would have lost control of the car. Or what if the windshield had collapsed while they were still driving? In that case my two daughters in the back seat would have had to go to the hospital for stitches."
Rebeca said when she spoke to her insurance company, the representative told her over the phone that she has heard of similar situations recently.
"I don’t know how widespread it is, but it’s happening," Rebeca said. "I imagine in some cases, it’s just a chip. Sometimes it's like this, and we’re very fortunate it wasn’t worse. But one of these days it could be fatal."
She said she believes this wasn't an accident or random occurrence. She believes someone had intent to hurt her family.
"I also think about how easy it is to commit this crime," Rebeca said. "It doesn’t take much to go get a rock and stand over a bridge and throw it."
She said she filed a report with the Denver Police Department.
"Hopefully the more people report these things happening, there can be more measures that are taken," Rebeca said.
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