East Bay freeway shooting during rush hour leaves victim hospitalized

BERKELEY, Calif. - An investigation is now underway into a broad daylight freeway shooting on Interstate 80 that sent one person to the hospital on Friday. It happened in the middle of rush hour at the Ashby Avenue on-ramp to the highway in Berkeley just before 5 p.m.

A 911 caller said someone in another vehicle shot the driver in their car. The victim’s car was a silver Toyota Camry, which afterwards slammed into a barrier.

"There was clearly significant damage to the victim's vehicle, as well from the crash, so we are still waiting to hear what injuries were sustained by the victim between the shooting as well as the crash," said CHP officer Andrew Barclay.

Officers temporarily shut down the on-ramp and diverted drivers for several hours.

The victim was rushed to a nearby hospital. Next to the badly damaged Toyota, a woman, inside the car at the time, was interviewed by police.

Officers located at least one bullet casing at the split to the on-ramp.

"We're continuing to ask at this time that anybody who may have seen anything, please call us," said Barclay. "You know it's Interstate 80 at five o'clock on a Friday. We know there's a lot of vehicles out there. There's a lot of people either leaving to go home for the weekend or maybe on their way out of town for the weekend, so we're hoping that anybody that was nearby at the time picks up the phone and calls us."

It marks the second freeway shooting in the Bay Area in two weeks. Last Wednesday, a dashcam captured the moment a driver on Interstate 880 was shot at during an apparent road rage incident in Union City. The driver only suffered minor injuries and the alleged shooter was later arrested.

The CHP is now planning to install 190 license plate reader cameras along highways in the East Bay.