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CHP seeking witnesses to freeway gunfire

There's new information Thursday on the freeway shootings that took place on Highway 163 earlier this week that struck two vehicles and injured one driver.
CHP seeking witnesses to freeway gunfire

SAN DIEGO (CNS) - The Highway Patrol put out a call Thursday for any tipsters who might be able to help identify a shooter who opened fire on State Route 163 in the Kearny Mesa area, wounding a college student on her way to school and damaging a second car.

Investigators have identified no suspect in Tuesday morning's shootings near Balboa Avenue but have narrowed down the time of of the gunfire to 7:15 a.m., CHP public affairs Officer Allen Reyes told reporters.

One of the bullets passed through a passenger door on a southbound Toyota Matrix driven by a 21-year-old University of San Diego student and struck her in the rib cage area. The woman, who was able to keep driving and apparently didn't immediately realize she'd been shot, underwent emergency surgery and is expected to recover.

The next morning, a 42-year-old Rancho Bernardo man contacted the Highway Patrol and reported that his car apparently had been struck by a bullet on the same stretch of freeway at about the time the young woman was wounded.

Authorities confirmed that the man, who was uninjured, was also the victim of a shooting.

Officials believe the same assailant opened fire on both victims, and was possibly in a stationary position when the bullets were fired.

The Highway Patrol has received "a myriad of phone calls" offering tips in the case, Reyes told news crews late this afternoon outside the CHP's San Diego station on Pacific Highway.

"We do have a team of investigators working diligently on the case, and every call is being evaluated for credibility and to determine if ... they are, in fact, associated with this incident," he said.

It remains unclear if the victims, whose names have not been released, were targeted or were struck by random gunfire.

"The investigation at this point is not confirming either way," Reyes said.

Investigators hope to speak to anyone who traveled on the stretch of SR-163 between Clairemont Mesa Boulevard and Balboa Avenue around the time when the shootings happened, in hopes someone saw something unusual -- such as a vehicle being driven suspiciously or parked on the side of the freeway.

Any tipsters are asked to call the CHP at (619) 220-5492.

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