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9-year-old boy shot on an Oakland freeway
A 9-year-old boy was wounded in a shooting on an Oakland freeway and the woman driving was injured after crashing on city streets, according to the California Highway Patrol.
OAKLAND, Calif. - A 9-year-old boy was wounded in a shooting on an Oakland freeway and the woman driving was injured after crashing on city streets, according to the California Highway Patrol.
The woman sustained non-life-threatening injuries as a result of the crash and the child suffered a gunshot wound, authorities said. Both are expected to survive their injuries.
At around 9:52 p.m. Tuesday, officers were notified of a freeway shooting involving two cars on eastbound Interstate 580, east of Fruitvale Avenue.
One of the vehicles, a Toyota Camry, got off the freeway and crashed in the area of 35th Avenue and Brookdale Avenue.
Video at the scene showed a crashed car with deployed airbags and bullet holes in the rear passenger side door.
The woman was driving the Toyota and the 9-year-old boy was sitting in the front passenger seat when shots were fired, authorities said.
Authorities have not said what led up to the shooting and no description was provided of a shooter or suspect's vehicle.
A witness told KTVU that she came upon the scene.
"I hear, ‘There’s a baby, there's a child, there's a child," said the woman who did not want to be identified. She said she was appalled because no one appeared to be helping the victims before first responders arrived.
"Everyone is recording, people are going live, and no one is actually trying to help," she said..
She said she found the 9-year-old boy on the sidewalk with at least one gunshot to his hip.
"He's crying and yelling. He was very, just scared, and he's in pain, and he's saying, ‘I’m hurt, I'm shot, they shot us, I'm hurt,'" she said.
Someone had taken the boy out of the car, which was damaged by the crash and all shot up.
"On the right side of the car, it was riddled with bullets," she said.
She said no one could get through to 911, so she and a witness placed the boy into her car, and they drove to Children's Hospital Oakland.
"At this point, I'm not going to wait, because the child is here, he's shaking, he's scared," she said.
She added, "I'm talking to him, you know, ‘Do you play sports? What kind of ice cream do you like? What kind of food do you like?’ "
Both mother and son are expected to survive.
Oakland City Councilmember Noel Gallo, who represents the Fruitvale neighborhood said, "The times that we're living in today are absolutely crazy."
Gallo said, "We, as adults, we gotta change our behavior, and certainly we're putting our children in the middle of our negative activity."