A road rage clash on I-66 in Northern Virginia nearly claimed multiple lives and left two newlyweds who were expecting a baby shot and wounded.
In a story you’ll only see on News4, the couple spoke for the first time about the moment a driver opened fire – and why they’re infuriated by what they called a light sentence for the shooter.
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WATCH HEREYousef Muezeb and Morgan Hartge were on cloud nine in the fall of 2023. They were set to leave on their honeymoon in a matter of hours when they were nearly killed as they drove along I-66 in Fairfax County.
“Like, I saw the angels and I almost died. I couldn’t breathe for a long time,” Muezeb said.
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SIGN UP Police snapped photos for evidence. Several bullets blasted the couple’s Honda. One bullet hit Muezeb and another grazed Hartge’s arm.
“I actually have a little mark right here,” she said, pointing to her wrist.
The encounter with a driver in a white sedan started as road rage.
“He started like brake-checking us and he almost wrecked us,” Muezeb recalled.
He acknowledged he didn’t handle it well.
Hartge was driving and at one point, Muezeb threw a water bottle from their car at the other driver.
That driver, an active duty service member in the Air Force, pulled out a gun. Bullets blasted through his own door, hit the couple’s car and shattered their window. A bullet missed Hartge’s pregnant belly by inches.
She kissed her baby as she told News4 the story.
“She was in my belly when we got shot at and now she’s here,” she said.
Chopper4 captured video of Hartge sitting on the side of the interstate that day with a Virginia state trooper. Muezeb was rushed to a hospital for surgery. He said the bullet did damage that can’t be fixed; the bullet tore through his leg and then a testicle.
“I can’t have kids anymore. I’ve been trying, you know, but I can’t have kids anymore,” he said.
Police arrested Daniel Luis Serrano, of Alexandria. He was 24 at the time and was later indicted on two felonies: malicious wounding and shooting from a vehicle. He faced a maximum of 30 years in prison.
He was sentenced, though, to serve just six months, which stunned the couple.
“I just think they let him off too easy because he’s ex-military,” Hartge said.
When the case went to trial, the jury convicted Serrano of shooting from a vehicle but was hung on the malicious wounding charge. In response, prosecutors went in a different direction and offered Serrano a plea deal.
Serrano signed the deal and was sentenced to serve six months, with two months credit for time already served.
News4 spoke with Serrano's attorney but they have not responded to a request for comment.
Muezeb and Hartge said the shooting ruined the future they had planned and that they feel the gunman was given a slap on the wrist.
