Man shot and injured on I-80 in San Pablo
SAN PABLO, Calif. (BCN) - Police are investigating a shooting on westbound Interstate Highway 80 in San Pablo Thursday, where a Richmond man was hospitalized for minor injuries.
CHP Golden Gate Division said that the incident was not random, but that the gunman drove off. Police began receiving reports of the shooting around 3:22 p.m.
Officers responded to the scene where they said they located an abandoned black Ford Escape SUV parked on an embankment on the right side of westbound I-80 just before San Pablo Dam Road. Police said it appeared the vehicle had gunshots and collision damage.
Investigators interviewed witnesses and found that the suspect vehicle, an unknown sedan, pulled up to the driver’s side of the SUV and opened fire, hitting at least one occupant. The SUV then swerved and collided with an uninvolved vehicle which was said to have driven away.
Occupants of the SUV fled the vehicle when it came to a stop and parked on the embankment before officers arrived.
Police said they were tipped off that a 30-year-old male subject with a gunshot wound to his arm had been spotted at a Denny’s on San Pablo Rd., north of I-80. KTVU’s Debora Villalon reported a server at the restaurant was able to help the shooting victim.
"He was just in pain, holding his wound," waitress Cynthia Lopez told KTVU, showing where she led the victim to a bench in the restaurant and called 911 for him.
The dispatcher instructed her to press a cloth on the bullet hole in his upper arm.
Lopez stayed with him, but they didn't talk much.
"I asked him, where did this happen, and he said, in the car... and I was like, really?"
Police said his injuries weren’t life threatening and he was taken to Kaiser Hospital in Richmond. The other person in the SUV appeared to have fled. Police did not give a description of the occupant.
All of I-80’s westbound lanes were closed for approximately 30 minutes while police investigated. All lanes finally re-opened around approximately 6:56 p.m. according to CHP.
CHP said recent shooting incidents were not random and that it doesn’t appear the public was being targeted. Although they did not say for sure if recent I-80 shootings were connected.
This would be the second recent shooting in the same area of Highway 80, after an incident on Nov. 2 near San Pablo Dam Road in which a man was found suffering multiple gunshot wounds in a car stopped along the highway's shoulder.
Investigators are seeking witnesses to this incident. Anyone with information is asked to contact CHP’s non-emergency tip line at 1-800-TELL-CHP (1-800-835-5247) or Investigative Services Unit at 510-622-4609.