SAN DIEGO, Calif. -- A man driving the car believed to be connected with a series of freeway shootings in San Diego County was arrested Tuesday morning after a pursuit in the Los Angeles area, authorities said.
A Latino man was arrested at about 10 a.m. in Lake View Terrace, a neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley, Fox 5's sister station KTLA reported. The suspect was not carrying identification and has not been positively identified, California Highway Patrol Officer Art Athan said at a news conference announcing the arrest Tuesday.
The CHP later chased the car along the freeway. and during a brief period on a side street. A description of the vehicle and its license number had been posted on Caltrans electronic information signs all over Southern California. The driver finally pulled over on the 210 freeway near Pasadena, and officers took the driver into custody without incident.
The car he was driving had the same license number as the one wanted in connection with the four shootings on Interstate 805 and Interstate 5, which were reported within about 20 minutes late Monday morning, authorities said. According to the CHP, the shots were fired from a white 2006 Chevrolet Malibu registered to Enrique Ayon, 24, out of Lancaster in northern Los Angeles County.
"We know that there was a sole male occupant in the vehicle (when it was stopped)... . Other than that, we don't have positive identification on him yet,'' Athans said. "He's being detained right now and (is) awaiting (an) interview by our officers, who are en route from San Diego.''
KTLA reported that the driver arrested Tuesday was believed to be Ayon.
A driver who spotted the suspect vehicle traveling through Los Angeles helped authorities rapidly track it down, according to Athans.
"The big crack in the case ... came from the fact that this was put out across Southern California on all the changeable message signs,'' Athans said. "An alert motorist up in the Los Angeles area spotted what he believed to be the wanted vehicle, and a stop was made.''
There was also different eyewitness accounts from the shooting incidents in San Diego that needed to be verified according the CHP.
"According to some witnesses, there were two, others reported seeing one person," said Athans. "Right now, we're looking for anybody who has additonal information on this case."
The shooting spree began after a white Chevy Malibu with California license plate 5POM917 crashed through a wooden barrier at a parking lot in San Ysidro without paying. Witnesses to the shootings said the shots came from a car of the same description shortly afterwards.The shooting spree began about 10:30 a.m. on northbound Interstate 805, near East Plaza Boulevard in National City. At least one bullet hit a car in that assault, though no one was hurt.
A short time later, a shooting on Interstate 805 at Mesa College Drive wounded a 26-year-old man, Hoover said. Medics took him to a hospital for treatment of a non-life-threatening calf wound. The victim was released from the hospital Tuesday morning, Athans said.
Within the next 15 or so minutes, gunfire again erupted on Interstate 805 near state Route 163, where a CHP officer was assisting a motorist, and on northbound Interstate 5 in the area of Del Mar Heights Road, according to Hoover. An ambulance apparently was targeted in the latter shooting, he said. No one was injured in those attacks.
