A Hollywood man was arrested Wednesday after shooting into a car with a father and his two young children inside, hitting the windshield, the driver-side door and back passenger window, a probable cause affidavit said.
Joshua Alion Ter Louwheflin, 32, was driving east in the 9500 block of Sheridan Street when he was cut off, Pembroke Pines Police said in a news release.
The affidavit said Ter Louwheflin honked at the other driver, made an obscene gesture and cut off the victim, speeding ahead in his 2021 BMW. The victim pulled his 2017 Nissan Versa alongside Ter Louwheflin and saw him holding a gun, pointing it at his car, the affidavit said.
The victim, who was taking his children to baseball and softball practice, said he remembered hearing at least three gunshots as he sped away, according to the affidavit. He and the two children were not injured.
One of the children was sitting in the front passenger seat with the second child sitting in the back. The child in the front seat reached into the backseat and pulled the other child down “to shield this child from gunfire from the suspect,” the affidavit said.
A Broward Sheriff’s deputy in the area saw the shooting and pulled over Ter Louwheflin at 2400 N. University Drive, Pembroke Pines Police said. The deputy detained him until officers arrived.
Ter Louwheflin told officers that the other man pointed a gun at him, so he shot in self defense. The Sheriff’s Office deputy who witnessed the shooting said “at no time was Joshua in a self-defense situation,” and the affidavit said no gun was found in the victim’s car.
Ter Louwheflin was taken to the hospital to be medically cleared, reporting he had glass in his eyes. In his BMW was a 9 mm gun sitting on the passenger-side seat, seven 9 mm casings and six bullet holes in the front windshield, the affidavit said.
The victim initially said he only wanted Ter Louwheflin’s insurance information to repair his car and did not want to prosecute, but he called officers and said he changed his mind.
Ter Louwheflin was held in the Broward Main Jail as of late Friday afternoon on three counts of aggravated assault with intent to commit a felony, two counts of child neglect without great bodily harm and one count each of discharging a firearm from a vehicle and discharging a firearm in public, jail records show.
