One man is in jail and another is lucky to have escaped injury Wednesday morning following gunfire in an apparent road-rage incident.

The shooting happened just before 7:30 a.m. on Ninth Avenue and Fifth Street. Bessemer police Sgt. Charlie Burton said it started when one driver apparently cut off another driver in traffic.

Both motorists stopped at a traffic light and that’s when the suspect in the front vehicle got out and fired several shots at the vehicle behind him. The car was struck but no one was injured.

A Midfield police sergeant was in traffic directly behind the incident and confronted the suspect while he was actively shooting. He was able to take the suspect into custody. Other Midfield officers arrived and secured the scene until Bessemer police arrived.

The suspect is being held in the Bessemer City Jail pending formal warrants for discharging a firearm into an occupied vehicle.

“It could have turned out pretty bad,’’ Burton said.