4 More Mysterious Shootings Reported On 91 Freeway In Riverside, Still No Arrests
RIVERSIDE (CBSLA) – Four more drivers reported shattered windows Monday morning along the 91 Freeway from Riverside to Corona, as the mysterious freeway shooting spree which started earlier this month continues unabated.
According to California Highway Patrol, two drivers had their windows shot out the westbound 91 Freeway near Tyler Street at around 7:30 a.m.
"Just driving down the freeway, on my way to work, and all of a sudden I heard a real loud pop, and then I heard glass falling," one victim, who did not want to be identified, said.
"Well, he was in front of us," Luther Castro, the second victim, said. "He was hit first."
They both said they were aware of the BB shooting spree that has damaged close to 60 vehicles on Southland freeways in the last three weeks.
"I remember that the police were saying that people were driving long distances before they pulled over so I wanted to pull over right away," the first victim said.
"Called the cops and waited like 30 minutes for them to show up," Castro said.
A short time later, a third car was struck while traveling on the eastbound 91 Freeway, about a half-mile away from the first two shootings, east of La Sierra. And a fourth car was hit a short time later close to Corona on the 91 Freeway.
All of Monday's shootings happened in about seven minutes, according to authorities. No injuries were reported.
CHP investigators believe the suspect is shooting from a passing vehicle, but they have few leads.
"It's extremely hard to catch somebody like that but we have investigators that are on it, from Riverside County, Orange County, L.A. County," Ramon Duran, a CHP Inland spokesperson, said.
As for who might be behind the shootings, former Los Angeles Police Department SWAT officer and police training expert Scott Reitz said it might be a young person who does not have access to a real firearm.
"The rationale behind somebody doing something like this is anybody's guess," he said. "It could be a thrill seeker, it could be somebody that's just upset with society in general."
And as for how this person might be caught, he said it could either be through video footage or bragging.
"A lot of times these young kids they start bragging to their friends that they're doing this and so forth, or they brag to a young girl that they're trying to impress," he said.
Since May 4, there have been north of 50 shootings involving BB or pellet guns on freeways across Los Angeles, Orange and Riverside counties, the vast majority on the 91 Freeway. There have been no serious injuries in any of them.
A 32-year-old Corona man was arrested in a car-to-car shooting on the 91 Freeway in Riverside late Saturday night. A handgun was recovered. However, investigators do not believe the suspect is linked to the spate of BB gun shootings.
On Friday morning, a 6-year-old boy was killed in a road rage shooting on the 55 Freeway in the city of Orange. That gunman remains at large.
