Just as another East Bay highway shooting was added this week to a tally mounting for nearly 6 months, California Highway Patrol officials announced Friday that 18 different law enforcement agencies convened to discuss the problem.
Representatives of the agencies were discussing the 18 or more suspected gang-related shootings that have occurred on highways in Contra Costa and Alameda counties since November, the CHP reported.
There have been at least 11 shootings on Interstate Highway 80, three on state Highway 4, two on Interstate Highway 580 and one each on Interstate Highway 880 and state Highway 242.
Four of the reported incidents resulted in fatalities, including the most recent shooting, in which an Antioch man identified as 28-year-old Uriel Reynoso Moreno was killed Tuesday on state Highway 4 in Pittsburg.
Back on April 7, the CHP in a Facebook post wrote that "without exception, these cases are gang related and are not random."
But CHP officials have generally been mum on the details of the shootings, citing concerns about jeopardizing the ongoing investigation that it is conducting jointly with various federal, state, county and city law enforcement agencies.
In its first announced arrest, the CHP reported on Facebook that it took into custody an alleged Contra Costa County gang member in connection with an April 1 shooting on Highway 4 in Pittsburg, an incident that CHP spokesman Officer John Fransen declined to provide any information on.
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The suspect, Laron Tiasawn McCoy, was arrested on April 2 and had charges filed against him by the Contra Costa County District Attorney's Office on April 5.
McCoy, who was also arrested and charged for an Oakley shooting in 2014, is facing three counts of assault with a deadly weapon and one count of shooting at an occupied vehicle.
His arraignment is scheduled for May 10 in a Martinez courtroom.
Although the CHP touted successful efforts to seize firearms and arrest alleged gang members in partnership with other local agencies, such as the Richmond Police Department, there have been no other arrests announced in connection with the highway shootings.
