LA MESA (CNS) - Two women going home from a rap concert were wounded early Monday, one critically, while riding in an SUV that became the target of a vehicle-to-vehicle shooting on Interstate 8 near San Diego State University.
The black 2003 Cadillac Escalade was headed east when a spray of bullets hit its passenger side doors and windows in the area of 70th Street in La Mesa shortly before 1 a.m., according to the California Highway Patrol.
At least a dozen .45-caliber and 9mm rounds were fired, and eight hit the Cadillac, CHP public-affairs Officer Kevin Pearlstein said.
Bullets struck a 31-year-old front-seat passenger and a 29-year-old woman sitting behind her, Pearlstein said. The driver -- who was uninjured, as
was a male passenger seated to the rear of him -- exited the freeway and tried in vain to find a hospital before pulling over outside a Fletcher Parkway supermarket, where one of the victims made a 911 call.
Medics took the wounded women to Sharp Memorial Hospital, where the younger one was admitted with life-threatening wounds. The other patient's condition was unclear, though she was alert and able to walk on her own prior to being transported to the trauma center.
Officers questioned the 38-year-old driver before arresting him on suspicion of drunken driving. His name was not immediately available.
The victims told authorities they had been "minding their own business" before the shooting occurred and had no idea what prompted it. Investigators, however, suspected that the attack might have stemmed from some sort of prior encounter or confrontation, Pearlstein said.
Earlier in the evening, the victims had been at a show featuring Los Angeles rapper The Game at the Observatory theater in North Park, according to Pearlstein. None of them was able to provide any sort of descriptions of the perpetrators or the vehicle from which the shots were fired.
The CHP closed the eastbound side of the freeway temporarily to allow investigators to gather evidence. A congestion alert for the area was canceled at 3:45 a.m.