Crime & Safety

Man Arrested in Connection with Freeway Shootings

"Person of interest" Enrique Ayon, 24, was taken into custody in Los Angeles on Tuesday morning.

A man suspected in was taken into custody Tuesday in the Lake View Terrace area of Los Angeles, authorities said.

The man, labeled a “person of interest”' in the shootings, was taken into custody during a traffic stop about 10 a.m. at the Foothill (210) Freeway near Osborne Street, said California Highway Patrol Officer Jesse Udovich.

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.

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According to the CHP, the shots were fired from a white 2006 Chevrolet Malibu registered to Enrique Ayon out of Lancaster in northern Los Angeles County.

The 24-year-old Ayon—described as Latino, 5 feet 8 and 190 pounds—was sought as a “person of interest,” according to the CHP, which described him as armed and dangerous.

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A description of Ayon's car and its license plate, 5POM917, were posted on electronic signs on major freeways Monday and Tuesday.

San Diego police Lt. Darryl Hoover said the Malibu, carrying at least two men, had been involved in a hit-and-run collision on East San Ysidro Boulevard shortly before 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 nonlife-threatening calf wound.

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.

“At this time, we have no information about any words being exchanged,” Hoover said Monday afternoon. “As we know at this time, it's just a stranger-on-stranger [crime].”

—City News Service


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