As Sikh activist Satinder Pal Singh Raju and two associates drove along northern California’s i-505 freeway earlier this month, a white car sped up behind them, then swerved into the lane to their left.

That’s when someone in the other vehicle started shooting, a hail of bullets striking Raju’s pickup truck but miraculously touching no one inside.

“When the first shot was fired, I got nervous and ducked. Another round of shots came. In the meantime, our car skidded off the highway,” Raju, who helped organize a contentious Sikh independence referendum in Canada, told the National Post.