The California Highway Patrol is investigating a freeway shooting and a related crash that occurred on Interstate 80 in Berkeley on Friday.
The incident happened at the Ashby Avenue on-ramp to eastbound I-80. Just before 5 p.m., CHP began receiving calls about a possible freeway shooting there.
"What we ended up finding was a vehicle that had been involved in a crash, and it appeared that prior to the crash, the victim in this vehicle had been struck by gunfire while on the on-ramp," explained Officer Andrew Barclay, a Public Information Officer for the California Highway Patrol.
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A Caltrans camera showed the scene of the incident. The silver sedan that had crashed into a barrier was visible there. CHP told NBC Bay Area that the person driving that silver sedan was taken to the hospital with injuries and that a passenger in that car was not hurt.
As of Friday evening, there was no update on the driver's condition.
Barclay explained that based on the information they've gathered and the victim's apparent injuries, they are investigating this incident as a freeway shooting.
"The victim in this situation could have possibly sustained injuries in the crash as well so we just need to determine what’s what," he added.
The on-ramp was closed for about three hours while investigators combed through the scene and was reopened to traffic at around 8 p.m. Friday after the silver sedan had been towed.
Barclay said this investigation is ongoing and CHP is asking that anyone who may have seen anything related this crash to call CHP's investigative tip line at 707-917-4491.
"No matter how little you think that piece of information might be, it might be incredibly valuable in our investigation," Barclay noted.
Just last week, California Governor Gavin Newsom announced plans to deploy 480 new license-plate reading cameras around East Bay freeways and streets.
Matt Rocco, the Assistant Deputy Director for Public Affairs at Caltrans told NBC Bay Area on Saturday that Caltrans is working with the CHP to speed up encroachment permits to allow highway cameras to be installed within the state right-of-way.
Rocco said that, to date, Caltrans has installed more than 63 freeway cameras in Oakland, which include 8 cameras on I-580 and 36 cameras on I-880, with the remainder of the 66 cameras on State Routes 13 and 24 and Interstates 80 and 980.
Ultimately, Caltrans aims to install a total of 270 cameras across the Bay Area corridors, Rocco said. Rocco was not able to share the exact locations of these cameras.
