2 More Drivers Report Windows Being Shattered On SoCal Freeways
CORONA (CBSLA) — Two more people have reported their car windows were shattered while driving on a Southern California freeway.
The most recent incidents happened just after 4 p.m. Thursday. The first was reported on the 91 Freeway near Main Street in Corona. The second a few miles away on the same freeway near Pierce Street in Riverside.
The two latest bring the total to eight recent reports of drivers saying their windows were shot at and shattered on Inland Empire, Los Angeles and Orange County freeways.
And now, for the first time, California Highway Patrol has said it looks like one of the vehicles on the 91 Freeway may have been shot at with a BB gun.
"Due to the window tint that was on the window it stayed intact, and there was a small hole at the center of the shatter mark," Dan Olivas, spokesperson for the CHP Inland Division, said. "It was very small, possibly indicating that it could have been a BB."
However, Olivas said the department was still investigating and said he could not speak to the April reports. But, he said, local CHP offices do call one another and compare reports.
"You know, we definitely don't want to isolate every single incident because there is a very good chance that it may very well be connected to another," Olivas said.
Olivas said the shattered windows could be from someone on the side of the road, someone on the overpass or even someone driving next to the victims.
"My holes on my car were very small holes made by a pellet or a BB, and the body shop confirmed that," Lisa Sanford, a previous victim, said.
Sanford had her window shattered back in March. She said CHP officers chalked it up to road debris, like investigators have maintained in some of the other cases.
"They keep trying to pin it on road debris, but road debris does not come from the side of the car," Sanford said.
In past cases where people have targeted motorists, CHP said it had formed a task force to investigate across counties. Sanford said it was time for that to happen.
"How many more cars have to be riddled with these BBs," she said. "How many more people have to almost hit somebody before that happens?"
CHP said it would do everything it could to keep people safe and prevent this from happening again, but investigators are now also asking drivers to call police if they see something.
