Driver pointed gun-like object at mother and daughter, punctured tires with awl in road-rage attack

A driver in downtown Daegu blocked another vehicle in broad daylight, threatened its occupants with what appeared to be a gun, and rammed the car repeatedly in a road-rage attack.

According to JTBC's crime news program "Sageon Banjang" on Wednesday, the victim, identified only as A, was driving through Suseong-gu, Daegu, with her first-year middle school daughter in the back seat on July 27 when the incident unfolded.

A had turned right onto a main road from a narrow side street after checking for oncoming traffic from the left. A car following behind suddenly blared its horn, then overtook her vehicle and cut in front of her, coming to a stop.

A pulled over, assuming the other driver was protesting her lane change. She later acknowledged she had crossed two lanes more abruptly than usual, which appeared to have triggered the confrontation.

The man, identified as B, got out of his car and approached A's vehicle pointing what looked like a gun. Terrified, A fled the scene. "I was so scared — I just thought if I got hit, I'd die," she recalled.

B got back in his car and gave chase. The pursuit lasted about eight minutes. When A's vehicle slowed behind traffic ahead, B rammed it from behind twice.

B then got out again, pointed the gun-like object at A and shouted at her to get out, striking the windshield and windows of her car multiple times.

He returned to his own vehicle, reversed, and rammed A's car once more. He then put on gloves, produced an awl, and circled her vehicle — puncturing a tire and striking the windows repeatedly.

"I saw him smiling as he stabbed with the awl," A said. "The calm, deliberate way he swung it gave me chills. It felt like being hunted."

A's daughter, seated in the back, filmed the attack on her phone. A's husband called police, who responded to the scene.

When officers arrived, B reportedly acted as though he were the victim of a traffic accident, and was seen cradling and soothing his 5-year-old daughter, who had been in his car.

B told police he was the victim and had merely stopped a hit-and-run driver.

Police confirmed that the object B had used to threaten A was not a real firearm but a toy gun.

On Monday, police applied for an arrest warrant against B on charges including aggravated assault.

Road-rage offenses — using a vehicle to threaten or assault another person — are prosecuted under the Criminal Act rather than the Road Traffic Act, carrying heavier penalties. A conviction on road-rage charges such as aggravated assault or aggravated intimidation can result in up to seven years in prison or a fine of up to 10 million won ($7,230).

Police received 23,520 road-rage reports over the five years from 2019 to 2023, averaging about 13 cases a day. Roughly 70 percent of those reports ended without indictment — less than half the indictment rate for ordinary traffic cases.