CHP investigating deadly shooting at on-ramp to I-80 in Richmond

RICHMOND, Calif. (KTVU) - - A man's body was found  Thursday morning on an Interstate 80 on-ramp and now police are investigating whether it's connected to a string of East Bay freeway shootings that detectives have tied to local gangs.

"We're really keeping an open mind as to why this person was shot. We don't want to make the conclusion that it was gang related but we don't want to rule that out either," said John Fransen, Public Information Officer for CHP.

Shell casings collected at the scene are the only tangible evidence CHP has at the moment.

With the victim's body being found along the hilltop drive on ramp to interstate 80 in Richmond, the chance of finding surveillance video is slim and there aren't many witnesses.

"Some contacted us after the fact and also through the investigation some of the investigators reached out to potential witnesses as well," said Fransen.

We went searching for possible witnesses ourselves.

"We heard gunshots around 12:00 at night," said one witness. "There were two back to back."

The man, who wanted to remain anonymous, said he wasn't sure if they were gunshots at first and was surprised to hear that someone was killed.

"If I knew they were gunshots I would have called police," he said.

Police were called when a driver spotted the man's body laying on the on ramp.

CHP says they scoured the surrounding area, including the park and ride nearby.

"It doesn't appear that any of those vehicles at the park and ride were a part of this incident so we're still looking at whether a vehicle was involved," said Fransen.

About a dozen of those recent freeway shootings were here on Interstate 80, but until more witnesses come forward, detectives say they can't make that connection.

The victim's identity still hasn't been released. Police will only say he was Hispanic and in his 30s.