One person is dead and another hospitalized after a road-rage related shooting on the 5 Freeway in Boyle Heights prompted a terrified motorist to flee for their life and drive head on into oncoming traffic and crash into several other vehicles Thursday.
The incident, which trapped thousands of drivers on the northbound 5 Freeway for hours, happened just after 4 p.m., according to officials with the California Highway Patrol.
It’s unclear exactly what caused the road-rage incident between two men in a dark-colored Dodge Durango and a driver and passenger in a gold-colored Cadillac, but the situation quickly turned deadly.
“The occupants of the Dodge Durango exited and started firing on the occupants of the gold Cadillac. The gold Cadillac driver was able to make a U-turn and drive back southbound in the northbound lanes,” CHP Lt. Bob Purvis said.
The passenger inside the Cadillac was shot and killed, while the driver was seriously injured.
Aerial footage of the aftermath captured by Sky5 showed the Cadillac crashed into several vehicles, including a white Tesla equipped with cameras that could be key to the investigation.
“They’re working on trying to recover that video and that is instrumental,” Purvis added. “That is why there’s anybody that has a Tesla, anybody that has dash-cams, if they could contact us.”
The Tesla, as well as several other vehicles, including a burgundy-colored Dodge Challenger, were seen with substantial damage from the collision with Cadillac, which came to a stop facing the wrong direction on the inside shoulder of the roadway.
Footage from Sky5 showed a white sheet placed over the passenger side of the Cadillac where the deceased victim was, while the condition of the driver was not immediately available.
No information was provided on the identity of the two victims.
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The shooting suspects were described as two male Hispanics, both believed to be armed with guns, and firing five to six rounds on a crowded 5 Freeway before they were able to get away.
“It’s absolutely dangerous to the public,” Purvis said. “You’ve got vehicles stopped in stop and go traffic at four or five o’clock in the afternoon on a artery, people getting out and walking up on a car and shooting other people – it’s detrimental to public safety.”
Investigators were later seen walking the freeway, scouring the area for evidence of the shooting and interviewing any witnesses, while a nightmare traffic scenario was playing on the northbound I-5, vehicles at a standstill, motorists stranded well beyond the 605 Freeway as the authorities continued to investigate.
“Sigalert update in East Los Angeles: NB I-5 at Lorena Street, all northbound lanes remain closed until further notice due to police activity,” CHP said in a post to X, formerly Twitter. “Northbound traffic is being diverted to I-710.”
At 8 p.m., KTLA’s Sandra Mitchell was told by CHP that the closure would remain in place for another four to six hours.
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