ST. CHARLES COUNTY, Mo. – Alexus Johnson was headed west on Highway 364 in St. Charles County with her 1- and 4-year-old brothers in the back seat when terror struck.

“I didn’t see any signs that indicated he was going to pull out a gun. He did it so fast,” Johnson said.

She thought she had been shot in the head because of the explosion of glass in her face. Johnson explained that she lifted her hand when she saw the flash.

“I flinched. My hand caught (the bullet) versus my face,” she said.

She was driving her little brothers to her dad’s home when she said the suspect sped up to keep her from merging, then slammed on his brakes. She tried going around him.

“I don’t know if he had it already on his lap or something, but it came up so fast,” Johnson said.

The suspect shot out her tire, and there were bullet holes in her mirror and window.

Court records said she gave a suspect description that would later prove key. Johnson said he was driving a black Audi 4-door with no tint. He was a white man in his 30s with a goatee, baseball cap, glasses, and a distinct jawline.

It matched the description from someone who posted on the St. Charles County Scanner Traffic Facebook page, saying that they saw a man with the same profile flying past them on 364 after having seen him pulled over by police at 364 and Bennington.

Johnson was unaware of that detail.

“That’s insane. That makes sense why he was like – he was on 10 – like he was driving on 10,” she said. “I mean I could see him yelling in his rearview mirror.”

Investigators pulled that earlier citation, a speeding warning, and a seatbelt citation, and they got a name. Investigators then seized the suspect’s car and gathered enough evidence to arrest 38-year-old suspect Dustin Duke who now faces seven felony charges, including first-degree assault, armed criminal action, and endangering the welfare of a child.

“These types of things are going to be dealt with swiftly,” said Joe McCulloch, St. Charles County Prosecutor. “They’re going to be dealt with justly.”

He said the police later obtained the suspect’s handgun from his job.

“The owner of the business saw the guy put a gun inside the business, so he confiscated it and called the police department back,” McCulloch said.

“Maybe I was just an inconvenience,” Johnson said.

She said she hopes to return to work as a Ballpark Village server in a couple of months. She cried thinking she may not be able to continue the artwork she loves. Yet she’s comforted thinking how her 4-year-old brother responded to the horror.

“It was almost like God was in the room, you know like he was calming me,” Johnson said. “Like he knew it wasn’t the worst thing ever. It’s not like he was saying that, but he was just looking at me like, ‘You good?’”

Duke has his first court appearance next week. His attorney, Scott Rosenblum, had no comment.

A friend of Johnson’s started a GoFundMe on her behalf.