Southbound Interstate 880 in the Fremont area was shut down for multiple hours Tuesday as authorities searched for evidence in connection with a weekend freeway shooting that left a 5-year-old girl dead.
Investigators say Eliyanah Crisostomo and her parents were driving south on the interstate at about 6:40 p.m. Saturday when bullets came flying into their car, striking and killing Eliyanah. The family was on their way home from a birthday dinner.
A family friend said Eliyanah, who would have turned six in a matter of days, wanted to be a doctor and was a happy little girl.
"She loved life," Crisostomo family friend Ashley said. "Everybody was her friend. She loved to laugh, smile and hang out with her family."
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Meanwhile, some of Eliyanah's teachers and classmates at Santa Clara's Central Park Elementary School were just learning about her death on Tuesday. Santa Clara Unified School District Superintendent Gary Waddell released a statement that read, in part, "We are all heartbroken to lose such a bright young soul as Eliyanah and Santa Clara Unified joins her family, friends, and community in their grief and will be there to support them through this difficult time."
