Mayor: Gangs 'Creating Terror' On East Bay Freeways
HERCULES (CBS SF) – It's a story Hercules Mayor Dan Romero has heard far too often over the recent months.
There's been a shooting on a freeway near his city.
"These are gang members and they are being very effective in creating terror (on the freeways)," Romero told KCBS on Wednesday.
His comments came just hours after he was informed of the latest shooting on nearby Highway 80 as he was ending a city council meeting Wednesday night.
The California Highway Patrol reported the shooting at 9:16 p.m. on Highway 80 just west of state Highway 4.
One victim was taken to a local hospital for treatment of non-life threatening wounds.
Tuesday's incident follows a trend of 20-plus shootings that have been reported on highways in Contra Costa and Alameda counties since November.
The growing frequency of the shooting has driven Romero to draft a letter to Governor Jerry Brown asking for state funding and help in installing 12-14 video cameras on off- and on-ramps to Highways 80, 4 and 580.
He is gathering together the mayors of El Cerrito, Pinole, San Pablo and Richmond to a meeting on Thursday to discuss the shooting spree and to sign the letter to Brown.
"Those cameras would be documenting cars going on the freeway and off the freeway," he told KCBS. "We are also requesting that there be funding to allow the cameras to have the ability to record video."
Authorities believe the majority of the shooting are gang related with a sprinkling in of road rage incidents.
"All of the shootings that have occurred whether it be gang-related or road rage related are very specially targeted," Richmond Police Lt. Felix Tan told KCBS. "We don't have a random shooter on the freeway."
Tan said the cameras who help because it has been difficult getting any information about the shootings from the public.
"These shootings are not easy to solve as we need witnesses to come forward and give us every tidbit of information of what they saw," he told KCBS.
For Romero it comes down to bringing to an end to the fear many now have of driving on an East Bay freeway.
"We have to be able to have our citizens' travel and understand that they can travel on Interstate 80 safely," he said.
