A 12-year-old passenger was shot in the leg on the 210 Freeway in the San Bernardino area on Tuesday, July 8, prompting an investigation that resulted in the arrest of a man in Victorville after license plate readers connected his car to the attack, the California Highway Patrol said.
The CHP learned that the shooting happened around 2:30 p.m. after the wounded boy arrived at a hospital, a news release said. The boy had been riding in the back seat of a silver SUV when someone opened fire. The SUV had bullet holes in it, the CHP said.
The boy’s condition was not available Wednesday.
The SUV’s occupants said there had been no road rage or other conflicts that might have prompted the shooting.
But witnesses reported that someone in a gray 2010 Honda Civic had brandished a firearm around the same time on the eastbound 210 between Pepper Avenue and State Street that prompted the SUV driver to swerve across lanes and leave the freeway at State.
Investigators used Flock Safety license plate readers to track the Civic to the Victorville area, where a 23-year-old man was arrested.
“A loaded 9 mm pistol was recovered from beneath the driver’s seat during a search of the vehicle,” the release said.
The man was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder, shooting at an occupied vehicle and brandishing a firearm, the release said. He was booked into the Central Detention Center in San Bernardino.
