Dennis RomeroUpdated at the bottom: A suspect was detained in the San Fernando Valley. First posted at 4:18 p.m.
Cops in L.A. County were on the lookout for a freeway shooter in a car that's registered in Lancaster.
A series of at least four freeway shootings — with one driver injured and a CHP officer targeted — rocked San Diego as the vehicle seemed to move north from the border region today. CHP Officer John Harris told the Weekly that cops in our region have been told to “be on the lookout” but that there has been no specific information that the shooter is in L.A.
It all started …
… with the suspect car, a white Chevrolet Malibu with a California plate 5POM917, being involved in an alleged hit-and-run crash into a gate on East San Ysidro Boulevard near the border about 10:25 a.m., according to what cops to the San Diego Union-Tribune.
Then the first shooting happened about 10:45 a.m. on the northbound 805 freeway south of Mesa College Drive near Clairemont, according to the paper. A 26-year-old man was shot in the leg.
The second shooting was reported when a motorist said his car was hit on the 805 just south of Plaza Boulevard in National City, which is far south of the first incident (in fact it's less than 10 minutes from the border). But the timing of that attack wasn't clear, according to our reading of the Union-Tribune's report.
The third outbreak of freeway gunfire was reported “moments later,” according to the U-T, much further north at the junction of the 805 and 163 freeways in the Clairemont area when a CHP officer who had stopped to help a stranded motorist said he was shot at.
The 805 between the 8 and Mesa College Drive was shut down for nearly two hours, apparently as a precaution, but the officer wasn't hurt.
Then an ambulance in further north, on the 5 just south of Del Mar Heights Road, reported being shot at. The 805 merges into the 5. Indications were that the Malibu was indeed headed north.
Update: The San Diego Union-Tribune reported Monday night that Enrique Ayon, 24, was named as someone who might have been involved in or have knowledge of the shootings.
Ayon; Credit: Union-Tribune / CHP
The paper stated he was the registered owner of the car, which had paperwork linking it to L.A. County (see above).
He's 5 feet, 8 inches tall and 190 pounds.
Call authorities if you see him.
Update No. 2: Ayon was taken into custody by the CHP at 10 a.m. today during a traffic stop on a 210 freeway offramp near Osborne Street in Lake View Terrace, the CHP tells City News Service.
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