Family heartbroken after daughter killed in Garden City road rage incident
GARDEN CITY, Mich. (FOX 2) - The way Teresa Oldenburg sees it, her step-daughter "didn't even have a chance."
Parked at a stop light in Garden City, the Livonia woman was sitting in a blue sedan when two drivers speeding around traffic, believed to be involved in a road rage incident and firing shots at each other, reached the light.
One driver in a pickup truck crashed into Diana Oldenburg, killing her. Her parents got the phone call soon after.
"I got a call, I thought it was a prank. Then I called back the number," said Jim Oldenburg, Diana's dad. "Garden City ER called me and told me she was gone, she was in an accident."
The accident happened around 6:30 p.m. at a red light at Middlebelt and Maplewood.
The crash left debris across the roadway and disrupted traffic for hours. It's also shattered the lives of the 41-year-old's family, heartbroken by the loss of their loved one.
"She was just taken away from us so senselessly, it’s hard to absorb, really hard to absorb because you think ‘she’s gonna call me today,’ she’s always so cheerful and happy'," said Teresa.
The driver who struck Diana initially fled the scene before he was picked up by police. He was taken into custody for the incident. The other driver is still missing. Police said they got multiple calls about the road rage before more came in reporting a major wreck.
Witnesses say they heard about 10 gunshots before seeing the crash.
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Police said the driver of the truck, which had bullet holes in it after crashing, initially fled the scene on foot. He was later found by police.
Diana Oldenburg.
"Why did he not try to miss her, it doesn’t appear that he even tried to stop. God knows how fast he was going and she's at a dead stop," said Teresa.