CHP Issues Warning After Shooting Reported on I-5 in Oceanside

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VIDEO AT LINK
http://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/CHP-Issues-Warning-After-Shooting-Reported-on-I-5-in-Oceanside-227823351.html

A shooting along a Southern California highway has the California Highway Patrol warning drivers and its own officers to avoid stops along a stretch of Interstate 5 north of San Diego.

Two Orange County women told police someone fired on their vehicle near Oceanside. Officials say the car took a shot-gun blast at close range around 2:30 a.m. Saturday in the northbound lanes, somewhere between the Brook Street overpass and the Mission Avenue exit ramp of I-5.

Investigators say the gunman was on the side of the road and struck the car just behind the passenger side.

The force of the bullet shattered glass but the victims had only minor injuries. The CHP said the car showed signs of multiple gunshots.

“We're talking a matter of inches here. It could have been a direct impact,” CHP Officer Bryan Sullivan said.

The shooting prompted a warning to all law enforcement, not just CHP, and to civilian motorists - avoid stopping in the area indefinitely.

“Anywhere you stop you're a sitting target for anything that can happen,” Sullivan said.

Specifically, CHP officers are not to pull drivers over on Interstate 5 between Oceanside Boulevard and Mission Avenue.

The stretch of I-5 is heavily congested with hundreds of thousands of cars passing through daily.

It is the most direct route to Los Angeles for visitors to San Diego like Saed Jones.

On Monday, Jones and friends left the Chargers game with low tire pressure.

They filled up at the same gas station where the two women whose car was hit with a shotgun blast Saturday had stopped for help.

“That would be horrible for a person to just drive down the highway and have to worry about if someone was going to shoot them. That's horrible,” Jones said.

CHP Officer Sullivan recommends drivers with car trouble should activate the vehicle’s hazards, get the car to the closest exit when possible and call 911 for help.

Investigators say they have had no other shooting instances reported in the area.

So far they have been unable to locate witnesses or even physical evidence.

No arrests have been made, and there's no word on a possible motive.

This was one of my beats with the CHP  that I worked as an Officer. The CHP Office is less than a miler from here