Gunfire erupts along SD freeways
SAN DIEGO (CNS) – One person was wounded Monday when at least one gunman
in a moving car opened fire on vehicles — including an ambulance and a
California Highway Patrol cruiser — in four locations on Interstate 805 and I-
5, authorities reported.
The seemingly random drive-by gunfire began about 10:30 a.m., starting
on northbound I-805 near East Plaza Boulevard in National City, according to
San Diego police. At least one bullet hit a car in that assault, though no one
was injured.
A short time later, a shooting on I-805 at Mesa College Drive injured a
26-year-old man, SDPD Lt. Darryl Hoover told reporters. Medics took him to a
hospital for treatment of a non-life-threatening calf wound.
Within the next 15 or so minutes, gunfire again erupted on I-805 near
State Route 163, where a CHP officer was assisting a motorist, and on
northbound I-5 in the area of Del Mar Heights Road, according to Hoover. An
ambulance apparently was targeted in the latter shooting, he said. No one was
injured in those attacks.
All of the gunfire may have come from inside a white 2005 or 2006
Chevrolet Malibu, California license plate number 5POM917, police said. That
sedan, carrying at least two men, had been involved in a hit-and-run collision
on East San Ysidro Boulevard shortly before the shooting spree began, and it
matched descriptions of the car involved in the firearm assaults, the
lieutenant said.
The suspect vehicle is registered to a Lancaster resident, according to
police.
In the early afternoon, the Highway Patrol shut down a roughly three-
mile stretch of northbound I-805, between I-8 and Mesa College Drive, along
with the freeway's northbound connector to SR-163 so investigators could search
the roadway for bullet casings and other evidence.
All the affected lanes were open again by shortly before 3 p.m.,
according to the CHP.
About a half-hour later, officers shut down northbound I-5 between the I-
805 interchange and Del Mar Heights Road to allow for collection of any crime-
scene evidence in that area. Both freeways have since been reopened.
