Robert Ramirez was just driving along, minding his own business on his way back from his mother-in-law’s house, when he noticed a man talking on a cell phone in the driveway of a house up ahead. At that moment the man raised his arm toward Ramirez’s car. The next thing he saw was a red laser beam shining through the windshield.

The sound he heard sent shivers down his spine.

“I heard a loud pop. The guy was shooting at me.”

Ramirez says he panicked and sped off, but 30 seconds later there was a car following him, and that ominous popping noise was getting louder.

“He was right behind me, shooting at me or my car. I don’t know which.”

Ramirez kept driving and trying to lose the attacker, making several turns and ending up heading westbound on Forest. As he approached Josey and Northaven, the suspect turned off on a side street, and Ramirez never saw the car again.

He says the suspect must have run out of bullets.

“He popped off eight, maybe 10 rounds.”

One gunshot grazed the side of his car, but Ramirez emerged from the high-speed chase unscathed. He told police later that he thought he was going to die when the shooter was following him.

He still doesn’t know why he was attacked and says he doesn’t know who the suspect is.

“It was just really random. But I still stay out of that area after that.”

Deputy Chief David Elliston says anyone who encounters another driver brandishing a gun should call 911 immediately and make every reasonable effort to elude them.

“If feasible, a license plate number will assist the police in finding the suspect.”

He adds that you should never get into a “yelling match” or provoke the person in any way.

“You never know the mental condition of someone willing to display a gun and should avoid any confrontation with these types of people.”

While it is unlikely most of us will find ourselves in a confrontation with a gun-wielding road rager, some of us will find ourselves in a situation in which we are being followed.

Elliston says in such cases it is a good idea to pull into a police station, fire station or even a large, crowded gas station to deter someone from committing a crime.

“The more people around, or the threat of a police station, are always good deterrents,” he explains.

He says Ramirez was right not to drive home while he was being chased.

“Never go straight home until you determine the car is not following you any longer.”